November 18, 2020.
TED NewsDesk, Bhubaneswar: Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha interacted with people from the Naxal prone ‘Swabhiman Anchal’, Malkangiri District via a video conference on Tuesday. During this interaction, he announced that the state government would provide free smartphones to all families in the region.
“Swabhiman Anchal has always been close to my heart, and I will continue to make it a leading region in the state. The state government would provide free smartphones to all families in the region. Mobile phones will help children learn online and connect people with other parts of the country,” he said at the occasion. , “There are four mobile towers in the Swabhiman area, while three towers would be built with 4g facilities soon,” he added.
Patnaik mentioned that he visited the area in 2018 and had announced a special package of Rs.100 crores. Later, the amount was increased to 215 crores. “The expanded package focuses on education, livelihood, health, communication, drinking water, irrigation, housing, banking and exposure visits for the Mission Shakti mothers,” he said. The said area is renowned for its turmeric cultivation and has arrangements underway for further cultivation for processing and marketing in India.
Highlighting the ongoing projects concentrating on electricity supply, piped water supply, lift irrigation and other such projects in the region, the Chief Minister said that very soon they will become functional. He announced that Rs. One hundred crores would be spent on building roads in the erstwhile cut-off region, which would include concrete roads in all village bridges. Work is currently underway on 42 Anganwadi Centres and Health Sub-Centers in the Swabhiman area and will be completed soon. CM Patnaik also urged the Left Wing Extremist (LWE) cadres to give up violence and return to the mainstream regions to help in the development of the district.
Source: ANI