Shah thanks Odisha government for support to Centre’s fight against Naxalism

BHUBANESHWAR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday thanked the Odisha government and chief minister Naveen Patnaik for extending co-operation to the Centre’s efforts in its fight to curb Naxalism.

While Inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) projects during an event in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, Shah said that during the period of 2015-2019, there was a 30 per cent decrease in the number of naxal incidents.“From 2015-2019, there has been a 30 per cent decrease in the number of naxal incidents, a 32 per cent decrease in encounters, and a 56 per cent decrease in death of security personnel,” Shah said.

He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government is committed to fighting against Naxalism. The Union Minister and Odisha Chief Minster participated in the inauguration and foundation stone laying ceremony of various development projects in Bhubaneswar. During the programme, the four-laning project of the Kamakhayanagar-Duburi section of National Highway-200 was also dedicated to the nation. Shah said that the 51-km-long road stretch has been constructed for Rs 761 crore and will help to connect Angul and Dhenkanal districts with the state and country.

"The four-laning project of the Kamakhayanagar-Duburi section of NH-200 is dedicated to the nation. The 51-km-long road stretch has been constructed for Rs 761 crore and will help to connect Angul and Dhenkanal districts with the state and country through national highway," the union minister said. Shah said that the development of national highways has been a key focus of the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a lot of portion of the budget was earmarked for this during the last nine years.

"Because PM Modi believes that without the development of infrastructure, the country's development cannot happen," he said, adding that 29 km of highways were built daily in 2021-22 from 12 km in 2014-15. Comparing the grant in aid by PM Narendra Modi government with the previous government, prior to 2014, Shah said that the Congress-led UPA government gave Rs 1,14,000 crore, while the BJP government has given Rs 4,57,000 crore to the state government.

Lauding the contributions of the Odisha government in implementing the Centre's disaster management initiative to the ground, Shah said that the state has set an example that how a natural disaster can be controlled if two governments work in synergy. "Disaster is a big problem, I want to thank Naveen Ji again that he has helped the government to implement every Disaster Management initiative of the Centre to the ground. The Odisha government itself has done a lot for disaster management.

Naveen Babu has shown the way to the whole country how natural calamities can be controlled if two governments work together," Shah said, adding that the cyclone which used to claim thousands of lives, hits Odisha today and there are zero casualties.