Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today released its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Odisha.

BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released the manifesto.

The ruling party promised to make Odisha the number one state in the country by 2034, at least two years ahead of its centenary year.

The party will introduce a separate Budget for the youths of the state. It will allocate Rs 1 lakh crore for youths in 10 years.

The BJD government will enhance the scholarship under the Nua-O scheme for both boys and girls. The scholarship amount for girls will be enhanced to Rs 14,000 per annum while the amount would be Rs 12,000 for boys, said the Chief Minister.

“We will provide two lakh government jobs to the youths of Odisha in five years. The BJD government would provide interest-free bank loans up to Rs 2 lakh under the SWAYAM scheme to promote self-employment among the youths in Odisha,” he added.

The BJD has also promised to set up a state institute of fashion technology, an AI university and another university for entrepreneurship in the state.

In its manifesto, the BJD has planned to create four mega urban clusters comprising the cities and towns of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda, Puri, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Baripada, Bhadrak, Balasore, Berhampur, Chhatrapur and Gopalpur to provide better facilities to people.

It has also planned to develop 20 towns—Balangir, Koraput, Jeypore, Bargarh, Rayagada, Bhawanipatna, Paradeep, Dhenkanal, Joda, Barbil, Keonjhar, Angul, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Paralakhemundi, Phulbani, Boudh, Sonepur, Deogarh, Kendrapara and Nayagarh—with better civic amenities.

The Naveen Patnaik-led party has planned to make Puri an international city with all modern facilities, including an international airport.

The households consuming electricity up to 100 units will not pay any tariff while those consuming electricity in between 100 and 150 units will get concessions in tariff, said the Chief Minister while releasing the manifesto.

The party has also announced to extend the BSKY health scheme to all sections of the society including the middle class, government employees and contractual workers in the state.

The party will provide government business to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore to the women SHGs in the state in next 10 years. Besides, women can avail interest-free loans up to Rs 15 lakh. It has also promised pensions and BSKY coverage for the members of Mission Shakti women SHGs.

In its manifesto, the BJD has announced to provide free electricity to farmers and provision of scholarship for better education for their children.

The BJD government will create a corpus fund of Rs 1,000 crore for the development of prominent religious places and heritage sites in the state, said the Chief Minister.

Besides, the government will spend Rs 100 crore for the development and promotion of Odia, a classical language.

The BJD has promised to introduce annual Kalinga Shree and Kalinga Bhusan awards in Odisha to felicitate the eminent personalities from various walks of life.

Notably, the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha will be held in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.

The counting of votes will be done on June 4.