Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Chairman of 5T and Nabin Odisha VK Pandian partnership has begun in the right earnest with both working in sync to ensure the implementation of government programmes. This is crucial considering that general elections are barely a few months away.  

The effectiveness of their partnership was evident when recently initiatives under Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha, the government’s flagship rural welfare scheme, were launched in three more districts- Sundargarh, Dhenkanal and Boudh. The chief minister sanctioned Rs 280 crore for the implementation of 7,228 projects under the scheme in these districts.

People in these districts are impressed by the speed with which the government is moving to implement the scheme. Pandian, who took voluntary retirement from IAS recently, was appointed chairman Nabin Odishs and 5T, the government’s reform initiative, with a cabinet rank. He is now ensuring the implementation of Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha initiatives in different districts.

Sources said 3,016 projects under the scheme will be implemented in six assembly constituencies of Sundargarh district with an investment of Rs. 139.5 crore. The projects will be implemented in 279 gram panchayats of 17 blocks of these constituencies. Similarly, Rs 106 crore has been sanctioned for four constituencies of Dhenkanal district. A total of 3,053 projects will be implemented in 212 gram panchayats of eight blocks of Dhenkanal, Kamakhyanagar, Parjang and Hindol constituencies in the district. Besides, Rs 34.5 crore has been sanctioned for two constituencies of Boudh for the implementation of 1,159 projects. The chief minister reiterated that the scheme aims to develop villages and panchayats besides promoting, preserving and protecting the Jagannath culture and tradition of the state.

Chairman of 5T and Nabin Odisha VK Pandian gave the details of the projects and the funds sanctioned for their implementation. The pace of implementation of Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha is being accelerated at the right time with elections not far away. Considering that majority of voters reside in the rural areas of the state this scheme can play a big role in creating a mood in favour of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as people want the development of panchayats and are equally keen to see the Jagannath culture spreading not only across the state but even beyond it.

Pandian is also chairman 5T (Transformation and Initiatives), a very important governance initiative which has been the focus of Patnaik in his fifth innings as the chief minister of the state.  The new governance formula of the chief minister stands for Teamwork, Transparency, Technology, Time, and Transformation and was launched with the aim of improving governance and ensuring efficient delivery of public services. With Pandian supervising its implementation right from the beginning initiatives like Mo Sarkar, aimed at building a bridge between the ruler and the ruled and involving people in governance by seeking their feedback, were launched. Currently every department of the government is under the purview of Mo Sarkar but the efficacy of the initiative was first tested in the Home and Health departments. This is significant because the chief minister himself wields the Home portfolio and the police force directly works under him. When Mo Sarkar was launched in 2019 Patnaik himself took feedback from people visiting police stations to know their reactions. Most people he spoke to reported that the behavior of men in khaki had improved surprisingly and they were not only behaving in a friendly was but also redressing grievances expeditiously. The quality of investigation improved as much as the behavior of policemen towards people visiting police stations to lodge complaints. Simultaneously a drive was launched to improve health services, especially in the district hospitals. Hospitals were upgraded with modern equipment and doctors were asked to become more people-friendly. Pandian, who was then playing the dual role of secretary to the chief minister and state’s 5T secretary, himself made repeated visits to districts to see the condition of hospitals for himself. During some of these trips he also met people who had grievances. He tried his best to redress their grievances and, in the process, the condition of hospitals also improved. 

The most important contribution of Pandian has been that he has galvanized the state administration which is now working much more efficiently with a high degree of transparency. While the working of different departments has improved, the focus right now is on the implementation of major pro-people schemes like Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha which focuses on rural development. 

As it is the government has launched a raft of poverty alleviation schemes with most of them running quite successfully. The government’s flagship poverty alleviation  schemes under which rice is sold for Rs. 1 per kg ( and may soon be available for free to the poor) has made a huge impact, pulling lakhs of people out of the abyss of poverty. In the urban areas schemes like meals for Rs.5 have made a tremendous impact. These meals have saved lakhs of people from daily pangs of hunger. Time was when Odisha districts like Kalahandi and Bolangir were notorious for  starvation deaths. Stories of impoverished parents selling their children to mitigate their pangs of hunger also emanated from the rural pockets of these districts. But the situation has completely changed now. Starvation deaths in these areas are a  thing of the past now and the rural pockets of both Kalahandi and Bolangir can be described as oases of development. Agriculture is flourishing with irrigation potential of both the districts vastly improved. People are happier than they ever were in the last few decades. Most Odisha watchers agree that chief minister Naveen Patnaik, ably supported by VK Pandian, his Man Friday, has changed the face of rural Odisha which is far more prosperous now.  However, working in tandem they continue to strive to make things even better with focus now on the development of panchayats through Ama Odisha Nabin Odisha. Spread of Jagannath culture is also an important component of the scheme which, it appears, will not only guarantee the development of rural Odisha but also help strengthen BJD’s political base by increasing its popularity.