17 Issues To Be Discussed At Senior Officers’ Meet: Odisha Chief Secy Suresh Mahapatra

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the budget session of the Assembly, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the IAS officers’ conference in Odisha capital on Tuesday. Three cabinet ministers were in attendance.

Speaking to the media, Chief Secretary Suresh Mahapatra said the conference would deliberate on 17 emerging subjects and transformative initiatives adopted by the government and the suggestions will be compiled for preparing a roadmap for the future.

He further said that ministers and secretaries, who are at the policy-making level and looking at overall supervision of programmes and schemes of the state, are participating in the two-day conference. “Collectors of all 30 districts and municipal commissioners responsible for implementing different schemes are also participating,” he said.

The press will be briefed after every session, he added.

Earlier, the CM stressed on implementation of development projects in the shortest possible time and steps to ensure that welfare initiatives reach the legitimate beneficiaries. “I hope this interaction will reset and re-invigorate our efforts to maximize the visibility of our transformative initiatives. There should be a competition among districts for realising the goals and setting benchmarks for others,” he said.

Naveen spoke about transformative initiatives in sports, healthcare, school transformation, women empowerment, skill development, crop production and COVID management.

Stating that agriculture and allied sectors provide maximum employment to people in rural areas, he said that the focus should be on rm mechanization, crop diversification, horticulture and floriculture, dairy development and fisheries. “Our ‘Millet Mission’ has now been taken up nationally to improve nutrition. This sector has the potential to revitalize the rural economy. We need to continue to excel in this sector.”

The CM stated that startups play a vital role in the economic development of the state. “The O-hub is in operation as one of the big incubation centres for startups. We are trying to make Odisha one of the top three start-up destinations in the country.”

He further said that women empowerment is at the core of all government initiatives. “We intend to transform our Mission Shakti groups into small and medium enterprises. We are providing interest-free loans up to Rs 5 lakh so that they can convert their units to flourishing units.”

“We have a target to provide Rs 50 thousand crore to our Mission Shakti Groups in the next five years. Collectors are required to provide all possible support to Mission Shaktri Groups in realization of this objective. Other flagship programmes like Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, school transformation, tourism promotion and sports also require your special attention,” he added.

Appreciating the Mission Shakti industrial park conceived and implemented by the Koraput administration, the CM said that this will be adopted by the entire state.

The conference of senior officials is being held at two venues. While the first day of the annual meet is underway at Lokseva Bhawan, the officers will move to Konark Eco Retreat on the second day.

According to sources, issues, including strengthening the delivery mechanism of key welfare programmes and government schemes, quality healthcare, Mission Shakti and small-scale industries, crop diversification, application of scientific knowledge in the government system and skill development, are likely to be discussed on day 1.

At Konark, the official would deliberate on startups and MSMEs, transformation in school education, improvement in rural economy through agriculture, development of tourism, improvement in telecommunication system in the state and provisioning of banking services in the rural areas.

5T secretary V K Pandian will give a presentation on the transformation that the state is undergoing under the 5T initiative. Additional chief secretary (ACS) of Water Resources Anu Garg will discuss the improvement in the rural economy through irrigation. ACS Satyabrat Sahu will highlight the people-oriented revenue administration system.

Principal secretary of Finance department Vishal Kumar Dev will speak on the expansion of the banking system while G Mathivathanan, Surendra Kumar and Shalini Pandit will deliberate on urban development, tourism and healthcare. Mission Shakti secretary Sujata R Karthikeyan will discuss the growth of the rural economy and women empowerment through self-help groups