Creating development model of Odisha- I

Harshil Mehta
3 min readMar 28, 2019

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After hearing the word Odisha, common Indian can easily remember the wheel of chariot at Konark Sun Temple and amazing rath yatra of Jagannath Puri. The land of Jagannath and Lingaraj — Odisha is wonderful state with rich cultural heritage. Still, It hasn’t utilised the existing potential well and facing many problems right; hence, it is one of the undeveloped state who isn’t performing well.

This is the three part story which will cover the different ideas which can solve the problems Odisha facing and elucidate the development model of the Odisha.

Utilising the coastline:-

Odisha has coastline of approximate 485 kilometres which can effectuate many problems of the state if it has been properly utilised and have been prioritised the first in development. State can do many efficient use of the blissful coastline.

Building the ports:-
Odisha has 5 major ports and harbours in working conditions right now. Gujarat has coastline of 1600 kilometres (Approximately 3x of Odisha) and has 27 major ports and harbours are in working (Approximately 5.6x of Odisha). I must say there should be atleast 10 ports and harbours in Odisha. Building ports will have the amazing benefit to the economy of the state.

1. If there is facility of the port then industries will also come in the state so that product can be easily exported and row material can be imported. This will provide the employment to the people.

2. There would be development across the coastline. New population will be settled which will benefit the economy of the state. See example of Paradip port.

3. This is one kind of investment. State can earn the revenue from the facilities been provided.

Recently, state government did the right job by giving permission to company to expand the Dhamra port.

Transforming beaches into the tourist destinations:-
The another work state has to do is to transform the beaches into the tourist spots which can attract the tourists across the India as well world. New beaches should be developed and more facilities should be provided there. Gopalpur and Chandipur beaches have potential to compete with the beaches of Goa. As more tourists will come to the state they will help to boost the economy of the state.

Water desalination and supply:-
Such funds should be invested which can transform the sea water in to the drinkable water. Obviously, this is not short-term project. But if this happens then coastline areas wouldn’t have to depend on the water of the river and thus, the problem of the drought places like Bargarh, Bolangir and Debagarh can be solved through the river water.

Aqua Culture:-
Example is the conversion of rice fields to shrimp ponds (like in East Java, Indonesia and Khulma) which require bringing saline water into agricultural areas. These methods are try and error methods; it should be implicated on the minor scale first and then it should be applied across the some areas of the coastline.

The other things such as fisheries, industrial development along the coastline and land transportation infrastructure already been going on in the state under various schemes. The ideas which I had suggested above are the ones which are unique and has to be implemented at major scale.

Personal Script:- You can connect with the author on Quora and Medium to get notified on the next post of the series.

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Harshil Mehta
Harshil Mehta

Written by Harshil Mehta

Observing the world and India. Into markets, photography, books, and living life. Some days, I write for Firstpost, News18, or Swarajya.

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