Noting that tax collection in the state dropped by over 11 per cent post demonetisation, Odisha government today announced plans to provide 11.46 lakh 'Rupay Debit Cards' to farmers by mid 2017 replacing Kisan Credit Cards.
"In the aftermath of withdrawal of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations, economic activity has been interrupted in the segments which are cash intensive," Governor S C Jamir said while addressing the state Assembly on the opening day of its budget session.
"It has brought about a steep deceleration of state's economy and public finances in the initial period. It is evidenced by a decline of over 11 per cent in the tax collection in December, 2016 over previous month," he said.
Stressing that the state has achieved significant improvement in finance through various fiscal reforms, Jamir said the effort in achieving debt sustainability from a position of debt stress was significant. The Debt Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) ratio had been brought down to 15.7 per cent in 2015-16 from 50.7 per cent in 2002-03.
Stating that the state government has decided to provide crop loan to farmers at one per cent rate of interest, Jamir said crop insurance indemnity of the farmers was being directly credited to their accounts.
He said that replacement of Kisan Credit Cards by Rupay Debit Cards was under implementation and 11.46 lakh Rupay Cards would be provided to farmers by mid of 2017. Construction of 737 threshing floors had been completed thereby ensuring threshing facilities to farmers and reducing post harvest loss.
On agriculture, Jamir said "our foodgrain production touched an all time high of 118.24 lakh metric tons during 2014-15 registering 22.7 per cent growth over 96.36 lakh tonnes during 2013-14."
Describing irrigation as a major area of focus, Jamir said the state had set a target of 10 lakh hectares of additional irrigation potential by 2019. It had been programmed to create additional irrigation potential of 2.954 lakh hectares during 2017-18.
Jamir said that Odisha Fisheries Policy, 2015 was being implemented to double fish production in the state in five years. Sea food export touched Rs 1791.81 crore during 2015-16 and the state government had set a target of Rs 20,000 crore worth export in coming years.
He said during 2017-18 average milk production and procurement per day were expected to reach 6.6 lakh litres and chilling and processing capacity were likely to be enhanced to 9.4 lakh and 7.0 lakh litres per day respectively.
On plans to augment development of green energy, the governor said a pro-active Renewable Energy Policy had been notified during 2016-17 for translating the objectives. A 20 MW solar project at Manamunda had been commissioned and 1,000 MW solar power units were being proposed to be set up at suitable locations.
Regarding the Mahanadi river water row with Chhattisgarh, Jamir said "I am proud that my government has stood firmly with the people of Odisha to ensure their due share of water from the Mahanadi river."
He said to prevent unauthorised construction activities by the Chhattisgarh government on upstream of the river and to safeguard the interest of the people of Odisha, the state government had moved the union government to constitute a tribunal to resolve the issue and also moved the Supreme Court.
Referring to the industrial growth, the governor said the biggest ever investment expo in the state, the 'Make-in- Odisha' event, organised by the state government recently in Bhubaneswar, brought promises of Rs 2.03 lakh crore investment and creation of 1.4 lakh job opportunities for youths in the state in 10 sectors.
Stating that the overall law and order situation in the state during 2016 remained peaceful, Jamir said the overall intensity of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) activities came down in the state, though the situation remained challenging in parts of Malkangiri, Koraput and Kalahandi districts. However, the situation there was gradually improving.
In order to increase the mobile telephone connectivity in LWE affected areas, 248 towers had been operationalised and to augment police capacity, 250 new posts in different ranks created.
Underlining the need to improve road connectivity in a time bound manner, the governor said the state government had prepared a road infrastructure development action plan with an investment of Rs 1,411 crore under Odisha State Road Project.
He said the construction of Gurupriya Bridge was likely to be completed by September, 2017 with an allocation of over Rs 187 crore. It would connect separatd regions with Malkangiri district benefiting the tribal people of the region.
