Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Thursday released its election manifesto which promises significant initiatives if they secure a sixth consecutive term in power. They aim to generate two lakh government jobs and introduce a scheme providing free electricity to households consuming up to 100 units per month, ensuring they have zero bills. Additionally, households using between 100 to 150 units monthly will receive a 50-unit discount. Given that 75% of Odisha’s households consume less than 100 units and a further 10% consume between 100 to 150 units, these measures target a significant portion of the population. Notably, Odisha boasts surplus energy. Furthermore, the manifesto commits to expanding the BJD Government’s BSKY health insurance program to encompass middle-class families, government employees, and contractual employees gradually.
A separate budget to the tune of Rs one lakh crore will be formulated for next 10 years for the youths of Odisha. This youth budget will be presented to the Assembly like the climate and gender budget. Based on the feedback and suggestion of prospective beneficiaries, an estimated Rs 1,000 crore will be spent each year through the proposed youth budget. The youth budget will be a first-of-its-kind initiative in the world where the youth can create their own identity and the identity of Odisha.
The manifesto, among other things, pledged to strengthen industrial infrastructure for the State’s steady economic growth, international airport at Puri, metro rail transport mode in Bhubaneswar, Khurda, Puri and Cuttack.
“The manifesto will make history in Odisha. In the last 24 years, the BJD government has transformed Odisha from a poor, hunger-prone, backward state plagued by natural calamities to a modern growth-oriented, culture- and identity-based state. The guarantees enshrined in people’s manifesto will be implemented through 5T governance and will make Odisha the number one state in growth and development in all sectors by 2034, two years before the centenary celebration of Odisha’s formation as a separate State,” it claimed.