Daring chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik to accept his challenge, former bureaucrat and president of Samruddha Odisha party Mr Jatish Chandra Mohanty today said he is prepared to adopt one block each in the four regions of the state and eradicate poverty.
In an open letter to the chief minister, the Samruddha Odisha president said he will select the four blocks, constitute a group of experts and select officers to be posted in these blocks. Within five years time poverty will be eradicated from these selected blocks, he assured while asserting that the government should accept his offer.
The only condition is that for five years there should not be any political and administrative interference.
Releasing copies of his letter to the media here, Mr Mohanty said targets will be fixed and reviewed every quarter in the presence of the media.
"The government should accept my proposal," he added.
Mr Mohanty claimed that he was prompted to put forth such a proposal before the government because as a Oriya, he felt ashamed that his state was the poorest state of the country and that 85 per cent of the population do not get 2,100 kilo-calories of energy per day. Farmers are committing suicide, unemployment is on the rise, women are trafficked and natural resources are plundered. "For a decade the BJD has been presiding over this plight of the people," he remarked.