On completion of the second year of the fifth consecutive term as Odisha's Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik chaired a meeting with the council of Ministers on Saturday.
Dedicating the achievements to his father, Biju Patnaik, who served as Chief Minister twice in Odisha, he said, "In this term, we have completed two challenging years in pursuit of realizing the dreams of Biju Babu and fulfilling our commitments to the people of Odisha."
On the occasion, the Chief Minister said, "The people of Odisha have blessed our government with the fifth term and we have been working very hard to live up to the expectations and fulfill all our commitments. The Covid-19 pandemic has created a unique situation where the lives and livelihoods of people are at stake. In spite of all the challenges, we are quite confident that we will emerge victorious in this crisis with the cooperation of the people of the state, and continue to carry forward the good work for the transformation of Odisha."
Owing to the havoc that Covid-19 has created, the Council of Ministers on Saturday passed the resolution to make disaster and pandemic preparedness a part of the curriculum of the schools and colleges, said Naveen Patnaik.
"This is a historic step and will enable and empower our future generations to withstand the vagaries of nature whether it's biological or climatic," he added.
Speaking about the large-scale vaccination drives taking across the state, the Chief Minister said, "We are now focused on vaccination and mobilizing all possible resources to vaccinate and protect our people at the earliest."
Meanwhile, he also stated that the government has not lost sight of the commitments that they made to the people of Odisha in the last elections.
Informing about the special focus on the development of education and health, Patnaik said, "Massive investment of over Rs 8,500 crores in development of healthcare infrastructure across the state is under progress. The SCB Medical College and Hospital will be developed as a great institution with an investment of Rs 3500 crores. More than 786 doctors and 5137 paramedics have been recruited in the last one year alone."
Speaking on the state government's aim to develop sports in Odisha, he said, "More than Rs 1000 crores worth sports development projects have been taken up, including India's largest Hockey Stadium in Rourkela."
"Agriculture and farmers' development is the keystone of our state's development. We have kept our promises related to the Kalia Scheme by transferring more than Rs 6118 crores to the farmers' accounts in the last one year," he added.
Naveen Patnaik is the 14th Chief Minister of Odisha. He has held his position for around two decades which makes him the longest-serving Chief Minister in the country.
( With inputs from ANI )
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