BHUBANESWAR/KEONJHAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday virtually launched distribution of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) smart health cards in Keonjhar district. The initiative will benefit 4.20 lakh people of the district. With this, the scheme has been launched in 13 districts of the State so far.
However, in view of the protests encountered by ministers in different districts from Opposition political parties, senior ministers and ruling party MLAs will not be involved in distribution of the smart health cards in the district. The local administration will distribute the smart health cards among the people.
The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stones of various development projects worth around Rs 1,433 crore on the occasion. Stating that the aim of the government is to transform Keonjhar as one of the developed districts, he announced that all families will have access to pipe water by December, 2022.
A mega poultry project at an estimated cost of Rs 36 crore will also be launched to improve the income sources of the tribal population of Mayurbhanj, he said and added that this will benefit 30,000 tribal people of the district.
Stating that health cards under BSKY will be provided to 3.5 crore people of 96 lakh families in the State, he said that the cards will be provided to the beneficiaries of the schemes of national and state food security, Annapurna and Antyodaya.
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi, Minister of State for Skill Development Premananda Nayak, Keonjhar MP Chandrani Murmu and BJD MLAs from the district were present in the inaugural function.
Meanwhile, continuing its State-wide agitation demanding the ouster of Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra, youth BJP workers hurled eggs at the vehicle of Marndi on Thursday.
The Minister was held up in the circuit house for over 45 mins and headed for the virtual programme at Sanskriti Bhavan after the BJP workers were arrested. On the day, local journalists boycotted the CM’s virtual programme to distribute smart health cards after they were denied entry to the event.