Monsoon Session Of Parliament: Naveen Tells BJD MPs To Raise Odisha Issues In House

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister and president of BJD, Naveen Patnaik, on Saturday told the MPs of his party to take up all the pending issues of the state with the ministries concerned during the monsoon session of Parliament beginning from July 18.

Addressing the BJD MPs of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in virtual mode, the chief minister said he had discussed several issues concerning the state’s interest and sought the support of the Central government on all the issues during his meeting with the Prime Minister at New Delhi on May 30. “I would impress upon all of you to take up all the pending issues with the concerned ministries so that these are sorted out in a time bound manner,” he added.

The chief minister further said, “Recently, I have written letters to the Prime Minister on evacuation of 5 lakh ton of surplus fortified parboiled rice from the state for the 2021-22 kharif season, on withdrawal of export duty on the below 58% grade ore and pellets, sanction of 1.84 lakh PMAY (G) (Special Houses) to the families affected by the cyclone Fani and to migrate 5.09 lakh data from the RH Portal to PWL through Awaas+ and to the Union Finance Minister on exemption of DMF trust from the purview of Income Tax from 2022-23 onwards. All these issues need to be pursued with the Centre.”

Naveen also told the MPs that the state’s proposal for speeding up pending railway projects, implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations on minimum support price for paddy, 33% reservation for women in both Assembly and Parliament, constitution of Odisha Legislative Council, Special Category Status and inclusion of ‘Ho’ language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution need to be pursued vigorously.

The issues in railways, banking, tele density, coal royalty and clean energy cess and coastal highway should be raised by the MPs in the Parliament, Naveen said.

“The daughter of Odisha Draupadi Murmu has been nominated to the highest office of our country. It is indeed a matter of honour and pride for our state. On behalf of the people of Odisha and BJD, we need to extend our full support to her candidature in the Presidential Election to be held on July 18,” the chief minister said.