By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 22, 2017: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked officials – whom he described Team Odisha, to take bold decisions keeping people as the focus.

“Take bold decisions keeping people as the focus. I will stand behind you. All your good work will be recognised and rewarded,” Patnaik said while addressing the state and district level officers at secretariat here.

Assuring them all out support for their relentless hard work and dedication, Patnaik gave them credit for the ‘Best Administrator’ award conferred by news magazine, Outlook.

“Without your hard work and commitment we couldn’t have walked thus far. But we have huge challenges before us. My government stands for people centric governance where the outcome is always measured in terms of employment of citizens,” he remarked.

Patnaik recalled his early days in the office saying when he took charge of the state in 2000; Odisha was in a state of despair – a state in hopelessly tough situation with endemic poverty, state finances in shambles, infrastructure in a pathetic condition – almost at the bottom in most of the socioeconomic indicators. Through sheer team work, commitment and pro-people policies, his government has come a long way in the last 17 years to look into the eye of the storm and has set global benchmarks in disaster management.

“It’s not a mean achievement for a state which suffers from several natural disasters year after year with not much support from successive Central Governments. In spite of this thanks to the resilience of the people of Odisha, we have overcome many odds and reached here,” the chief minister asserted.

Exhorting the Team Odisha to transform governance for public good, the four time chief minister said, “Let Team Odisha resolve to make the state the best state to live in. Let Team Odisha create a new brand of development ensuring zero casualty in the face of a super cyclone, build one million houses in two years, better the national average in IMR, move a record 8 million people out of poverty, be the only state to double agricultural income and play a vital role in National Food Security.”