Naveen meets union minister Kishore Deo

Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Pattanaik has urged the union minister for panchayatiraj and tribal affairs, V Kishore Chandra Deo to provide further central assistance to strengthen the panchaytiraj institutions to make those more effective. The central minister who was on a two-day visit to the state met the chief minister at the state secretariat. Chief minister has urged Deo to provide funds for early construction of panchayat offices in the state and recruitment of staff for smooth functioning of the panchayats.

During the meeting the chief minister apprised the union minister about distribution land rights to the tribals under the forest rights act. The CM told Deo that while three lakh land pattas have already been distributed to the tribals, the entire process would be completed by the month of December. Naveen demanded that the Centre should make budgetary allocations for providing study loans to the tribal students and establish more ashram svchools for tribal students in the remote areas.