Stating that his government was giving importance to improvement of infrastructure in villages by constructing pucca roads, Patnaik said the economic condition of the people would also improve as a result.
The chief minister listed some of his government`s social welfare programmes like the recently launched Mamata scheme for pregnant women, cheap rice at Rs 2 per kg, Madhubabu Pension Yojana and Mo Kudia Yojana to the landless people.
He was speaking at a public meeting at Aska, about 40 km from here after laying foundation stone for the Aska-Bhanjanagar portion of the Jagannath Puri-Berhampur- Phulabani stretch of the 1632-km-long Vijayawarda-Ranchi corridor.
The Orissa portion of the road is 1219-km, which passes through the Maoist-hit tribal dominated districts. The road corridor also passed through Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.