Bhubaneswar, Aug 7 (IANS) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday demanded special focus status for Odisha from the Union government during the Governing Council meeting of Niti Aayog.Addressing the meeting, Patnaik said Odisha is impacted almost every year by natural disasters. "It's important to have disaster resilient infrastructure to protect the state and its people from the vagaries of nature," he said.He requested the Central government to make Odisha a special focus state and allocate funds for disaster proofing.Stating that Odisha has been historically neglected in the subjects in the Central list -- telecom, railways and banking, the Chief Minister said the state has the lowest density in all these crucial infrastructure. "So, the Central government should give special focus for Odisha," he demanded.The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has some implementation issues in the field because of which genuine farmers are deprived in some cases. Patnaik urged Niti Aayog to study this and suggest ways to protect the interest of farmers."As regards the rural housing scheme - PMAY most of our tribal and KBK districts have been bypassed from new allocation. I would request the Central government to immediately resolve this issue and allocate houses," he stated.Patnaik suggested the Centre to bring transformation in ASI and amendment in the AMSAR act to make India's systems on par with global benchmarks. This will greatly help in protecting heritage sites including our own Konark, he said.The Chief Minister has also congratulated all the athletes who are making their motherland proud in commonwealth games.
--IANS bbm/pgh
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