Budget session of Odisha Assembly begins

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar: The budget session of the Odisha Assembly began here on Thursday with Governor S.C.Jamir addressing the newly-constituted House and announcing a series of new programmes and initiatives of the government.Jamir said that the government will fulfill in a time-bound manner the promises with regard to primary infrastructure needs in areas of road, communication, drinking water, electrification, irrigation, agriculture and education.Jamir informed that the State government will launch new schemes such as the Chief Minister’s Sadak Yojana to improve rural connectivity, and the Chief Minister’s Employment Generation Scheme to upgrade skills of at least 150 youth from every gram panchayat.The Governor said that the Odisha Youth Innovation Fund will be created by the government to incubate new business ideas coming from young entrepreneurs.He also said that the scope of Biju Setu Yojana will be expanded and measures will be taken to ensure people’s access to power and piped water in rural areas.As regards the government’s efforts to help the farmers, Jamir said the State government had decided to irrigate an additional 10 lakh hectares of land in the next five years.He also spoke of the government’s plan to set up mandi in each gram panchayat and a cold storage in each block to help the farmers sell their produce and avail storage facility.The state government will also formulate an integrated women’s policy, the Governor said.Efforts will also be made by the State government to convert all kutcha houses into pucca houses in the State in a phased manner, Jamir added.The proceedings were adjourned for the day after House paid homage to former legislators and police and security personnel who died or were killed in the line of duty in the recent past.The budget session will be held in two phases and will have 25 sitting days.The budget for 2014-15 will be presented by new Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat on June 17.The Appropriation Bill will be passed on July 28.