Odisha places demands before Niti Aayog

The Odisha government today informed the Niti Aayog that the state wanted restoration of central assistance for special KBK plan, IAP and BRGF districts, hike of the Centres share in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and revision of coal royalty besides the special category status, official sources said.

The state's requirement and the demands were placed before Niti Aayog when its vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the state secretariat here.

Apart from demanding revision of coal royalty, Patnaik sought opening of bank branches in 4376 unbanked gram panchayats in the state. He also reiterated Odisha's demand for special category status, the sources said.
 

During the discussion, Patnaik urged Rajiv Kumar to expand mobile network in 11,200 villages and broadband connectivity in the left wing extremism-hit districts of the state.

Patnaik said the NDA II government at the Centre has stopped central assistance for special plan for poverty stricken KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region and there was no allocation under integrated action plan (IAP) and backward region grant fund (BRGF) districts thought the Centre was earlier funding such schemes.

He also demanded a hike in the Centres share in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) from 75 per cent to 90 per cent with effect from July 1, 2017, the sources said.

Patnaik said that there is a need to relax norms under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana for 38 LWE-hit blocks in the state and demanded adequate funds for development and maintenance of national highways in the state.

The chief minister also told Rajiv Kumar that the Railways should speed up the execution of its projects in the state.

"The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, modeled on the lines of Odishas flagship MAMTA scheme, needs certain modifications for wider coverage of beneficiaries," the sources quoted Patnaik as suggesting.

Patnaik said the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor may be extended up to Visakhapatnam to connect it to deep water ports. It would also facilitate strategic link between various industrial corridors of the country and there should be advance intimation of the annual allocation for the central sponsored scheme.

Later speaking to reporters, the Niti Aayog vice-chairman said the objective of the meeting was to convince the chief minister to make the Aayog their medium of communication with the Centre so that the states problems are properly addressed.

Stating that there are 9-10 important issues, Kumar said some related to Odisha and the Centre and there were some others like the coal royalty, which concerns some other states. It would be looked into separately.