By Bizodisha Bureau, March 27, 2015 :

Odisha government will soon expand the number of services under the Odisha Right to Public Services Act, 2012 to enable the common citizens access these services in a time bound manner.

“More than 80 lakh applications have been received and more than 70 lakh were disposed off in regard to 89 public services of 12 Departments. This is a major step towards greater transparency and accountability in governance”, chief minister, Naveen Patnaik said on Friday in the floor of the Assembly.

Making a statement on the expenditure of home and general administration, the chief minister claimed substantial improvement in the overall containment of Left Wing Extremists [LWE] in the State.

“The intensity of Maoist activity is on the decline now and there was perceptible improvement in the situation in the districts like Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh and Nayagarh during the year. However, the situation remains sensitive in districts like Malkangiri, Koraput, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bolangir,” he added. .

About 253 mobile towers would be set up in the LWE affected areas, Patnaik said. “Connectivity plays an important role in restricting LWE activities. Significant steps have been taken for construction and improvement of roads and bridges in these areas”, he informed.

The security forces have been proactive in dealing with the LWE problem which resulted in the arrest of 71 LWE cadres including the most wanted Sabyasachi Panda, leader of Odisha Maobadi Party and Tella Anil Kumar, State Committee Member, Andhra – Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee and recovery of a record number of 143 weapons including 34 quality weapons.

Besides, 99 LWE cadres and militia surrendered in the State during the year 2014 including Nachika Linga (leader of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha), the chief minister said.

The Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF) would soon be raised with notification of Recruitment Rules, he stated adding that all the 18 sanctioned Marine Police Stations have been made functional To keep vigil on the state’s long coast line,

“joint coastal security exercises are being carried out with West Bengal to improve coordination between Police, Coast Guard and Indian Navy and to achieve seamless operation at the time of need. A similar kind of exercise will be jointly conducted with Andhra Pradesh”, Patnaik informed the House.

The CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Networking and System) is under advanced stage of implementation, he said. The CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system at police station level to create a nationwide network infrastructure.

Out of 784 locations, network connectivity has already been provided in 705 locations and the balance will be completed shortly, according to the CM’s statement.