BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to visit Mayurbhanj district on Friday to inaugurate the Subarnarekha irrigation project at Rasagobindpur and Deo irrigation project at Karia.
The CM will visit Mayurbhanj after nearly three years. Naveen’s visit assumes significance as it comes at a time when BJP is flexing its muscles keeping in view the 2024 elections.
After Droupadi Murmu’s election as the 15th President of India, the prospects of BJP in the district is expected to grow further. Murmu, hailing from Mayurbhanj, was a former BJP minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government in the State. The ruling BJD had also supported and campaigned for Murmu after she was declared the NDA Presidential candidate.
The BJP has a solid base in Mayurbhanj district and had trounced BJD in the 2017 panchayat elections. Besides, BJP had won from Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and captured five out of seven Assembly seats in the district.
But the situation now is favourable for BJD after the panchayat elections in February 2022 . The ruling party had won from 53 out of 56 Zilla Parishad seats in the district. However, the saffron party still has a strong presence in Mayurbhanj despite the drubbing it received in the rural polls.
Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said, both the irrigation projects to be launched by the CM in Mayurbhanj will give a major boost to agricultural activities. Besides, Naveen will also launch several other development projects in the district.
The Subarnarekha irrigation project, launched in 1994, has a target to irrigate 1,14,200 hectare (ha) of land in Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts. In July 2021, the CM had launched the release of water from the project to 15,000 ha. Now, he will launch the release of water for irrigation of another 17,000 ha.
Similarly, the Deo irrigation project, proposed in 1992, would irrigate around 10,000 ha in Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts.