Paradip: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today gave credit to former chief minister Biju Patnaik for the setting up of IOCL refinery at Paradip.
“It was due to the continuous efforts of Biju Babu for which the Centre had taken a decision to set up a 6-million tonne oil refinery at Paradip on October 31, 1994,” Patnaik said while addressing a function for dedication of the new oil refinery to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Talking about mega projects, the chief minister said the common people always have a major contribution in bringing up large projects. For this oil refinery project, several people have sacrificed their land. “I offer my profound respect to them for their sacrifice to safeguard the interests of Odisha,” he added.
He said the Odisha government hds provided all possible assistance to IOCL including 3345 acres of land and made provision for supply of 25 million gallons of water every day for the mega project,
Thanking the Prime Minister for visiting Odisha and dedicating this dream project to the nation, the chief minister requested him to provide special category status (SCS) to the state to fast track its growth.
“One of the main challenges which often derails our growth is our frequent exposure to natural calamities. Almost every alternate year, our state faces a serious natural calamity,” he pointed out.
He, however, said Odisha had set global standards in disaster management.
Stating that the industrial policy of the state government is very progressive drawing a number of investments into the state, Patnaik said the people of Odisha will be grateful if the proposed Chennai-Vizag industrial corridor is extended up to Odisha.
Besides, the chief minister highlighted the achievement of the state government in improving agricultural production for which it has received the Krushi Karman Award at the National level for the fourth time in five years.
“This apart, we have also settled maximum land in the country for the tribal and forest dwellers under Forest Rights Act,” he added.
Claiming that Odisha leads the country in rural housing, Patnaik said the state government has constructed more than seven lakh houses in last two years.
“We are on the path of fulfilling our promise of converting more than 20 lakh kachha houses into pucca houses in the next three years,” he pointed out.
He also expressed happiness over the selection of Bhubaneswar as the number one Smart City in the country.
The chief minister thanked the Prime Minister for the increased allocations in the Railway Budget last year and hoped that this trend will continue.
He also thanked him for the amendments made in the MMDR Act for the development of mining areas.