Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik reviews targets, achievements ahead of Assembly polls

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday reviewed the targets and achievements of three departments including Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Co-operation and Health & Family Welfare Department, during the last four years and the fulfilment of the assurances given in the manifesto.
After the review, highlighting the achievements under the election manifesto, Minister for the Department of Food Supplies, Consumer Welfare & Cooperation Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said, "No eligible and distressed person is left out of the food security scheme. In order to cover them, the target under the State Food Security Scheme is dynamic." "In order to cover more numbers of small and marginal farmers in paddy procurement operations, a robust, transparent and technology-based system has been put in place. As a result, in the last four years, there has been a 300 increase in the number of marginal farmers and a 60 per cent increase in the number of small farmers who are selling paddy to the Government and getting benefits of Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations," he said.
The minister highlighted that "More Women Self Help Groups (WSHG) and Gram Panchayats have been involved in PDS distribution. As of date, about 60 per cent of the PDS distribution in the State is carried out by them. Odisha is the first State in the Country which has involved WSHGs in paddy procurement operations. About 687 WSHGs are doing paddy procurement in the State."
"Odisha pioneered the implementation of rice fortification programme in the Country under all schemes i.e. PDS/MDM/PM-POSHAN/ICDS/OWS in all 30 districts. Also, we are a major contributor of fortified rice to the Central Pool," he said.
Nayak further stated that "During Kharif- 2022 Crop loan Rs. 8710.78 Crores of Crop loan has been disbursed to 18.02 Lakh farmers. During Rabi 2022-23 Crop loan to the tune of Rs. 7972.79 Crores has been disbursed to 16.55 Lakh farmers."
Highlighting the achievements of the Health Department, Minister, Niranjan Pujari said "The State has laid much emphasis on the creation and expansion of medical facilities and Education in the State. In the past 6 years, the State has established 8 new medical colleges and 2 new Post Graduate Institutes (AHPGIC, Cuttack and PGIMER & Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar). In 2024-25, it is planned to make the Jajpur Medical College functional, followed by Phulbani and Talcher in subsequent years.
"State is confidently moving towards self-sufficiency in meeting our need for doctors and specialists. While Odisha was producing only 321 MBBS doctors and 254 specialists per year in the year 2000, we now produce 2200 MBBS doctors and 826 specialists each year, and these numbers are increasing each year," he said.
The minister said that Odisha has achieved SDG Goal in population stabilization measures by reducing the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 2.4 in 1998-99 to 1.8 in 2019-21 (India 2.0), which will contribute substantially to accelerating the socio-economic development of the State. (ANI)