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Bhubaneswar, August 12: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday inaugurated 100 godowns through videoconferencing and launched the distribution of free mobiles to Woman Kissan Credit Card holders at the Secretariat here.
“Today (Friday), in continuation of our pro-farmer policies, 100 godowns of 41,400-tonne capacity were dedicated to the state,” the chief minister said.
The godowns constructed by the cooperation department at the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society (PACS) level for conservation of fertilizers, seeds and harvested paddy have a cumulative capacity of 41,425 tonne.
He said the state government has taken steps to construct 1,264 such godowns having a total storage capacity of 3.5 lakh tonne.
Launching the mobile distribution programme for Woman Kissan Credit Card holders, Patnaik distributed cell phones to 10 such beneficiaries at the event. The government would distribute 41,000 free mobile phones to Woman Kisan Credit Card holders under the programme, the CM said.
“Distribution of mobile phones to women engaged in agriculture sector will enable them to start a better access to agri information and agri marketing,” Patnaik added.
Cooperation minister Damodar Rout said the construction of godowns in large numbers will strengthen the PACS. Similarly, the mobile distribution porgramme will help women farmers in accessing information related to agriculture, including dispensation of agricultural credit, procurement of agricultural produce and their market price.
Meanwhile, political experts opine that the state government seems to be on an inauguration spree ahead of the Panchayat elections scheduled for February 2017. Several projects have been launched this year as part of the government’s welfare measures which includes launching of 100 Aahar centres, 100 drinking water projects among others besides ensuring inclusion of various communities in social welfare schemes.
The move of the BJD government is widely seen as its efforts to reach out to public especially ahead of the rural polls.
Meanwhile, Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahanipati said, “The government is distributing mobiles ahead of Panchayat polls. Once polls come to end the phone distribution programme will also take a halt like it had happened during 2014 Assembly and general elections.” However, the BJD leaders rubbished the allegation.
