Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today emphasised on early fund release for road construction, cleaner drinking water and better livelihoods in rural areas of his state.
Expressing concern over the time taken by the union government to sanction key road projects in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts, Pathnaik met Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and impressed upon him for early release of the funds allocated for the projects among others.
The Odisha Chief minister pointed out that inadequate allocation and delayed release of central assistance are adversely affecting implementation of key programmes related to rural drinking water, rural livelihoods, rural employment guarantee scheme and Indira Awaas Yojana.
He impressed upon Singh to restore the allocation under these programmes and to release the balance funds to the state urgently.
Singh assured Patnaik that an additional central assistance of Rs 295 crore will be released to the state under Indira Awaas Yojana and additional resources will also be provided under National Rural Livelihoods Project and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
