This New Year’s Day was different for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Instead of making the customary annual trip to his beloved Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri to pay obeisance to the sibling deities, he was seen – in a video that has gone viral – praying before a picture of the Lord and seeking blessings at his official residence Naveen Niwas. This happened because the 12th century temple was closed for the public yesterday to avoid crowding in view of the arrival of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in Odisha and a full-blown third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic looming over the nation.
The five-time Chief Minister revealed on Twitter that he prayed for the progress and prosperity of Odisha and its people. And during a videoconference that he held later in the day, he urged ministers and bureaucrats to ensure that the government’s welfare programmes benefitted all the poor and underprivileged people across the state.
On New Year’s Eve, the state government’s Cabinet decided to provide slum dwellers of five municipal corporation towns – Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Rourkela and Sambalpur – with land rights.
Stating that the decision will benefit around 8,58,000 people from 1.90 lakh families in 938 slums across these municipal corporation areas, Odisha Housing and Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena confirmed that the land distribution process will be completed by mid-2022.
Under the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017 and Jaga Mission, the government has so far given land rights to people residing in 109 urban local bodies (ULBs) – including municipality and NACs – and the programme has covered around 1.75 lakh families across the state.
Apart from providing direly needed security to the lowest strata of the society, the Act was also put in place to transform the slums of the state into habitable places.
And it is not just the poor; people from all walks of life in Odisha are already blessed to be under his leadership.
Last week saw the Chief Minister launch an online service for identity verification and life certificate submission for the pensioners of the state government.
Under the new system, Government of Odisha pensioners can now submit identification and life certificates through an artificial intelligence (AI)-based video-verification process.
This system will be immeasurably helpful to the pensioners as it will let them submit their identification and life certificates digitally, through their mobile phones from the comfort of their homes, without needing to visit any government office. In addition, they can also avail the facility at all Mo Seva Kendras across Odisha.
Stating that Odisha is the first state in the country to implement such a digital service for the pensioners, Patnaik noted that the new system is in keeping with his government’s 5T governance model and Mo Sarkar initiative.
To ensure the success of his pioneering efforts and policies, the Chief Minister is also sparing no expenses to ensure the well-being of government servants. The 3% hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief for Odisha government employees (effective retrospectively from July 1, 2021) and pensioners, respectively is the latest case in point.
Patnaik also has a habit of standing up for those who genuinely need help. The Missionaries of Charity – a global humanitarian body founded by Mother Teresa that also runs many orphanages and leprosy homes in Odisha – will attest to it.
Not long after the Centre refused to renew the registration of the Missionaries of Charity under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) on grounds of its failure to meet the eligibility conditions under FCRA 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules 2011, the Chief Minister instructed all district collectors to ensure that no inmate of such organisations in his state suffers from food security and health-related problems. The Chief Minister’s Relief Fund has already been made available to further facilitate that.
To have such a leader is nothing but a blessing for Odisha.
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