A Yodha in every home: Naveen government mantra for disaster-ready Odisha

BHUBANESWAR :  As Odisha fights disasters in one form or the other at an alarming frequency, the Council of Ministers on Friday resolved to create a massive knowledge infrastructure in the State to empower every citizen with capabilities to strengthen disaster management mechanisms from the community-level.

With the clarion call of moulding a ‘Yodha in every home of Odisha’, the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik decided to include disaster management in school and college syllabus with proper training of students at early age.

The Council resolved to form a task force to carry forward the mission of building a disaster and pandemic-resilient Odisha.

“From ward members to the Chief Minister, all elected representatives and Panchayati Raj Institution members will be trained on disaster and pandemic management. Due to this, the role of our elected representatives changes significantly during times of distress,” the resolution stated.

Every government employee will be trained on the fundamental nature of different kinds of disasters and pandemic management. Besides, government jobs and recruitment will have a mandatory syllabus on disaster and pandemic management.

Similarly, high school and college students will learn about disaster and pandemic management as part of the curriculum. 

The meeting also resolved that Mission Shakti groups, Vana Surakshya Samitis and other community-based organisations will be trained and equipped with the knowledge required to manage disasters and pandemics, it added.

To achieve the futuristic goals, the Council of Ministers has resolved to undertake systematic and detailed training programmes to equip all citizens with adequate knowledge and skills in disaster and pandemic management to make Odisha a leading State in disaster preparedness.

The Council also discussed completion of two years in the fifth term of BJD government in the State.

Even before the start of the fifth term of the government, the State had to face the challenge of cyclone Fani in May 2019, the Chief Minister said, adding, since then over the last two years the government has been continuously dealing with the devastating impact of the cyclones and the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“It is a period of unprecedented crisis and we are trying our best to protect our people,” he said.

A Yodha in every home: Naveen govt mantra for disaster-ready Odisha 

The Chief Minister said since March 2020, a new dimension has been added to the State’s experience of disasters. He said, “The government is now focused on vaccination and mobilising all possible resources to vaccinate and protect our people at the earliest.”

Though the government had to deal with crisis after crisis, it has not lost sight of commitments made to the people in the last election, the Chief Minister said.

The government’s special focus is development of education and health. Massive investment of over Rs 8,500 crore in development of healthcare infrastructure across the State is under progress.

The SCB Medical College and Hospital will be developed as a great institution with an investment of Rs 3,500 crore, he said and added, more than 786 doctors and 5,137 paramedics have been recruited in the last one year alone.

Besides, transformation of the high schools has been a main agenda and more than 1,000 schools have been taken up in the first phase this year.

“We continue to focus on sports development in the State. More than Rs 1,000 crore worth sports development projects have been taken up, including India’s largest hockey stadium in Rourkela,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the government has kept promise related to KALIA scheme by transferring more than Rs 6,118 crore to farmers accounts in last one year.