CM Naveen pledges to work for development of Orissa

Bhubaneswar, May 22: Pledging to work hard for poor people the state, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday, May 21 claimed his government had done a great deal of developmental works in the first two years of his third consecutive term in the office.

Patnaik said this on the occasion of the second anniversary of his third term as the chief minister. Patnaik was sworn-in as the chief minister for the third time on May 21, 2009. His tenure began in 2000.

"A great deal of development works was done by our government, specially in industry, irrigation and agriculture sectors," Patnaik claimed.

He, however said the government had made "some progress" in education, health and infrastructure sectors.

"We will continue to work for the development of the state and take up pro-people programmes," he said.

Opposition Congress and BJP, on the other hand, described the last two years as "disastrous" as scams and corruption were galore in the state.

"There are scams in many sectors. Mining scam, MGNREGA scam, dal scam and coal scam took place in the state state during last two years," said the leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh of Congress.

There had been rise in the Maoist activities and law and order mechanism had completely failed during the period, alleged BJP leader Suresh Pujari.

The state government had been criticised by courts in Khandadhar iron ore mines for Posco, Vedanta University case and others.

PTI