Naveen Patnaik

"Tourists and visitors can now have a glimpse of the rare and majestic species found only in Odisha," he added.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will grace the inaugural ceremony while around 5000 farm women, 2000 women SHGs and agri-entrepreneurs from different corners of the state are going to participate in this event, officials said.

Before laying the foundation stone at Ratagada Lenka Sahi near Trisulia, Patnaik held a roadshow on the 26 km route of the proposed metro project. People stood on both sides of the road and different groups performed traditional folk dance and music to welcome the chief minister during the roadshow.

Developed under the Parvati Giri Mega Lift Irrigation project, the 59 utilities will help irrigate about 80,000 hectare of land in 13 districts of the state, officials said.

Official sources said that the state government has allocated 40 acres of land on lease at Goudakashipur for the establishment of this institute free of cost and free registration for an initial period of 30 years.

Patnaik, who undertook a one-day visit to Malkangiri district, flagged off 36 buses under the scheme in the district which aims to connect all the 111 gram panchayats with the district headquarters and the state capital.

The roll-out of the Location Accessible Multi-modal Initiative was among 19 proposals, which were given go ahead at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday.

For high-nutrition food, it has been increased from Rs 95 to Rs 120, from Rs 75 to Rs 95 for dry food and from Rs 85 to Rs 110 for a liquid diet, they added.

The Odisha Economic Survey 2022-23 mentioned that the state economy is likely to grow at 7.8 percent during 2022-23 which is higher than the pre-Covid average growth of 7.1 percent during 2012-13 to 2019-20

Naveen Patnaik in a letter written to Sitharaman on Monday said that 18 per cent GST on Kendu leaves should be waived in the larger interest of poor and tribal people associated with Kendu leaves trade in the state.

Prominent in the group of unmarried politicians are Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Indian National Congress party, and Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and a forceful opponent of PM Modi’s.

Patnaik also ruled out joining any third front, a plan floated by some regional parties earlier.

Naveen Patnaik, who flew to the national capital on a four-day visit on Wednesday evening, will apprise the prime minister about his Japan visit and discussions with Nippon Steel about its proposed mega steel plant in Kendrapada district, they said.

The Bihar CM and JD(U) leader had recently announced that he would travel across the country to unite opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls next year.

The plant in the east Asian country was established on land reclaimed from the sea and used environmentally sustainable green technologies, Patnaik was informed by the company, according to an official release issued by the Chief Minister's Office.

The announcement comes after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met Nippon Steel president Eiji Hashimoto in Tokyo earlier in the day.

Odisha will seek Japanese investments in sectors like tourism, food processing, auto components, electronics, chemicals & petrochemicals, mining, metals and information technology, the officials said.

The five projects got the nod at the meeting of High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) headed by Patnaik.

In a letter to Goyal, the minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, the CM said that Odisha became a decentralised procurement state from the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2003-04, and since then, it has been undertaking MSP (minimum support price) operations for procurement of paddy in a decentralised mode.

The scheduled meeting between the two non-BJP CMs assumes significance in the wake of Banerjee's recent interaction with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Kolkata.