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Naveen completes 17 years in office

After completing 17 years as the Chief Minister of Odisha, the Biju Janta Dal (BJD) led by Naveen Patnaik claims to have changed the face of this coastal state.

Speaking about achievements, the government asserts that Patnaik assisted by his council of Ministers have fulfilled several developmental projects– the most significant being in the rural areas.

The government has provided provisions for more than a million houses for the rural poor and allocated 4 lakh hectares of additional irrigated area. Tapping on to the prevailing national crisis of agricultural borrowings, the BJD government is also providing crop loans at a minimal interest rate of 1%.

May 21 marked the third year anniversary since Patnaik took oath for the fourth time as the Chief Minister of Odisha.

The government says that it has made strong inroads in healthcare, Odisha which previously had an abysmal Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 96 in the year 2000, has now seen the IMR dropping to just 40 in 2015-16, higher than the national average. Not just that, to reach out to its population the government said it is also providing free medicines under the NIRMAYA scheme to more than 1.3 crore residents of the state. To protect the status of the scheduled castes and tribes, the government has provided hostels to half a million tribal girls–the largest in the country. About 19 lakh SC/ST students are provided with scholarships amounting to Rs 1000 crores.

Making inroads into providing quality infrastructure, the Naveen Patnaik led government has built 500 crucial bridges under the Biju Setu Yojana. More than 25 lakh houses have been provided with electric connection and the government said it will provide complete electricity by 2019. To bridge the crisis of inaccessible drinking water, the government has laid 1300 kms of new pipelines benefitting over 10 lakh people. Odisha has been recognised as the leader in implementation of business reforms by the World Bank.
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