Orissa to demand Special category status, Special package for KBK

Bhubaneswar, Aug 27 (UNI) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will reiterate the demand for special category status to the state and special package for the underdeveloped Kalahandi Bolangir and Koraput (KBK) region before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his two-day visit to the state.

Official sources here tonight said the Chief Minister would submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to declare Orissa as a special category state and seek special package of Rs 500 crore per year for the development of the KBK regions.

Mr Singh will arrive here tomorrow on a two-day visit to the state and tour some KBK areas during his last leg of visit to review the various developmental programmes being undertaken by the Centre.

The Orissa government, sources said, would also demand a central university in the KBK region and special incentives besides tax concession for setting up of industries in KBK area.

This apart, the government, would seek central assistance to the tune of Rs 1131 crores for the flood affected areas and Rs 856 crores for Drainage Master Plan in the Mahanadi delta region.

On the power produced by the NTPC, the state government would demand at least ten per cent of power for the state and special tax on the production of power besides six paisa tax on each unit of power generated towards environment protection.

Sources said the Chief Minister would also demand an increase in the coal royalty at par with 20 per cent of the price of the coal per tonne and special concession of 2.2 per cent to the farmers to avail loan from the cooperatives.

The state government, would also demand that the National Institute of Science(NIS), Bhubaneswar, whose foundation stone would be laid by the Prime Minister here tomorrow, be set up at par with the NIS institute of Kolkata and Pune.

UNI DP SP AKJ DB2347