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Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, said that a major focus of the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state will be towards promoting nature tourism.
Parida, who also holds the Tourism ministry in the state government, said though spiritual tourism has been developed, nature tourism has not been so despite the state having the potential for it. Pravati Parida also thanked Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for giving her the portfolios of Women and Child Development, Mission Shakti and Tourism. "I want to thank CM Mohan Charan Majhi for giving me this responsibility. In the field of tourism, the majority of development in the state has been done for spiritual pilgrims. We will work for the nature-loving tourists coming to Odisha," Parida told ANI. She alleged that the previous BJD governments in the state did not do much to develop the tourism sector in the state, adding that political willpower is needed to develop tourism. "Odisha has financial resources. But there should be political willpower to develop tourism. However, the previous BJD governments did not do much for the development. We have a long coastline but we could not develop tourism or other sectors much. Our government with the help from the Centre will do developmental work," Parida said. Talking about her priorities as Women and Child Development Minister, Parida said that the state government would make women the stakeholders of development. "In the state, 'Mission Shakti' was just for name sake but no empowerment of women has been done. BJP made two Chief Ministers and ensured that one of them was a woman. We will ensure that women are a part of the development story in our state," Parida said. "For the holistic development of women, our government will make them aware of their legal rights, make them economically and socially empowered and make them stakeholders of development," she added. Parida also emphasized that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been advocating for women-led development and the the state government will follow this. Mohan Charan Majhi took oath as the Chief Minister of the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Odisha, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 12. The ceremony at Janata Maidan in Bhubaneshwar also saw the swearing-in of Deputy Chief Ministers Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, administered by Odisha Governor Raghubar Das. In one of the first decisions of the new government, the cabinet approved a proposal to re-open all four gates of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri early, which had been closed since the Covid pandemic, and set up a corpus fund for it. (ANI)
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