Sate Government of Orissa launches Biju Kandhamal Yojana" and "Biju Gajapati Yojana"

CM launches welfare scheme for Kandhamal
Times of India, Oct 1, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: With an obvious intention to strengthen the Biju Patnaik legacy inherited by him, chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday announced
two more schemes after his legendary father. Akin to the existing "Biju KBK Yojana", the state government would from the current fiscal fund the "Biju Kandhamal Yojana" and "Biju Gajapati Yojana", Patnaik said at a public meeting in Phulbani.

The new schemes would focus on development of bijli-sadak-paani and livelihood initiatives in the southern districts of Kandhamal and Gajapati. Under the schemes, the state government would provide Rs 1.5 crore to each block in the said districts every year, according to the CM. Both the districts, it many be noted, fare poorly on different socio-economic indicators.

An official release quoting Patnaik said the state government had in the past demanded before the NDA as well as UPA governments at the Centre to include Kandhamal and Gajapati districts under the KBK programme. "But the central government took no initiative for development of backward districts like Kandhamal and Gajapati. Hence, the state government has decided to start separate schemes for its own resources," the CM said, appealing the Centre to adopt similar measures for the two districts. Earlier, Patnaik, who had to drop his plans of taking the aerial route owing to inclement weather conditions and reached Phulbani by road, graced the statewide launch of the school health programme which is expected to benefit over 5.8 lakh students of 60,000 schools in the state.

The schemes, a part of the National Rural Health Mission, aims to provide health cards to the school students and provide them with free medicines and a minimum of two medical check-ups every year. "This programme would take healthcare services to the doorsteps of the schools spread across the state. Students from Class I to X from residential and non-residential schools of all the departments will be benefitted," the CM said.

Under the scheme, the state government would give Rs 100 to a student as transportation expense to take a sick student to hospital. A sick student would get Rs 50 for each day's stay at hospital. Moreover, each school would be provided an annual aid of Rs 10,000 to meet emergency medical expenses.