Development Takes Centre Stage At Kalahandi Dialogue In Bhawanipatna

Bhawanipatna: To be successful, one has to be ambitious, think big and innovative.
If you are not dreaming it would be a nightmare and you will have to face
defeat, said Rwandan High Commission To India Ernest Rwamucyo here on Friday.

Earnest, who was in Kalahandi to three-day ‘Kalahandi Dialogue-2018’, said there exist a gap between planning and implementation at most places, despite adequate resources.

“One needs to plan and focus on implementation otherwise all the efforts would
be in vain,” he said.

Referring to the sitting MLAs, he said the leaders are most powerful and they need to focus on every little thing. “How many mothers went for institutional delivery. If the number is less, one has to think of ways to get the desired result. The same applies to children not attending schools. Things have to be planned in a proper way,” he added.

Earnest congratulated the denizens of Kalahandi and its leadership for the growth the district had witnessed in the past two decades.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who could not attend the inaugural ceremony as he down with viral fever, addressed the audience through video conferencing.

“In the last few years, Kalahandi has scripted a new story. It is the story of growth and resilience, and all credit goes to the people of Kalahandi,” he said.

The Chief Minister said Kalahandi had become the grain basket of Odisha owing to subsistence farming and with an increase in irrigated area by 115 per cent.

“The district has witnessed massive infrastructure development, both physical and social. A new government medical college and hospital will soon come up at Bhawanipatna. Inclusive growth has always been the focus of my government and Kalahandi is one of the finest example of our model of development,” he said.

With regard to the College of Agriculture, Naveen announced opening of five PG departments, namely Agronomy, Soil Science and Agriculture, Chemistry, Entomology, Plant Physiology and Plant Pathology.

Chairman of ‘Kalahandi Dialogue’ Sujeet Kumar, who is also the principal
secretary of Odisha State Planning Board, said that decades ago the district was
known for famines and poverty but the scenario has drastically changed in the last
20 years.

How further development could be initiated will be discussed here, he added.

Co-founder of Mindtree and Chairman of Odisha Skill Development Subroto Bagchi also addressed the event through video conferencing and said ownership should not be
limited to the owner, but shared with all its employees. This would help improve the business sector in the district, he added.

Among others, social activist Tulasi Munda, Rajya Sabha members A V Swamy and Prashanta Nanda and Professor Gopabandhu Behera were present.

The event is being organised by Kalinga Kusoom Foundation of Bhubaneswar in association with other organisations.