How Odisha Chief Minister Is Checkmating Maoists With His Infrastructure Connectivity Programmes And Welfare Schemes

The most remote district of Malkangiri, infamous as a hotbed of Maoist activity, still holds a special place in the heart of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The government has announced that Malkangiri district, located in south west Odisha, will have an airport by 2024. This development comes post the defeat of BJP and Congress in the recently held panchayat elections. Patnaik is now pursuing a governance policy to uplift Odisha’s backward regions through social welfare and infrastructure connectivity as the CM knows that is the key to Odisha’s transformation. A case in point is Gurupriya Bridge completed in 2018. The bridge provides connectivity to 151 villages that were cut-off for over five decades. “It is not just a bridge,” CM had tweeted, “it is the identity and Swabhiman of Malkangiri”. This bridge provides government services at the doorstep for Odias living in the back of the beyond thereby weaning them away from Maoist clutches. Prior to the airport building initiative, Patnaik had also chosen Malkangiri to launch his popular one-rupee rice scheme that was followed by the launch of the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana smart health cards, also from this remote region. With the new airport for Malkangiri district, expectations are that the Maoist hold, their extortions, levies and local support base will fade away for sure as development increases.