The BJD Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BJYD) and the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) on Wednesday held a protest against Union Minister of State for External Affairs General VK Singh’s rejection of Odisha’s longstanding demand of Special Category State status on Tuesday.
BJYD and BCJD activists led by party general secretary Sanjay Dasburma went in a bike rally from the party head office to the Raj Bhavan before holding the demonstration. later, they submitted a memorandum to the Governor addressed to the President of India.
In the memorandum, they stated, “Demand for Special Category State status for Odisha is quite old and long standing demand made for the first time the way back in 1979 in the National Development Council meeting. Since then, Chief Minister and president of BJD Naveen Patnaik wrote several letters to Prime Minster, Finance Minister and Deputy Planning Commission on sanctioning special category status to Odisha. Chief Minister Patnaik also raised this issue many times in the NDC meetings. However, the Government of India has turned a deaf ear to the demand.”
The memorandum further stated that despite making rapid progress on several fronts, Odisha still does not fare well in comparison to national average in many social economic indicator such as per capita income, poverty ratio etc. Beside it also lags behind in various aspects of infrastructure development roads, rail network, irrigation facilities, electrification and drinking water. The State has total tribal population of 22.8 per cent which is much higher than the national average of 8.6 per cent. Further, the KBK region of the State which comprises eight districts continues to remain one of the most backward areas of the country. All these factors combined make the State eligible for special category status, it said.