Bhubaneswar: In a bid to fast-track Odisha’s overall development, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has directed all state departments to focus on 15 priority action points. A high-level review meeting was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary of the Works Department, Sanjay Kumar Singh, to deliberate on the effective implementation of these directives.
During the meeting, Principal Secretary Singh reviewed the progress of various works undertaken by the Works Department and issued a series of key instructions aimed at improving administrative efficiency and project execution. Emphasising the state government’s policy, he directed that all official communication—including letters, orders and departmental correspondence—must be carried out strictly in the Odia language.
Reiterating the government’s commitment to strengthening the administrative machinery, Singh stressed the urgent need to fill vacant posts and ensure timely promotions for eligible officers who are currently awaiting advancement.
Highlighting the importance of adopting modern governance practices, the Principal Secretary said that the present era is driven by technology and that reliance on traditional file-based systems leads to avoidable delays. He instructed that all official work and file processing be conducted online through the e-Office (OSWAS) platform to ensure transparency, speed and accountability.
The meeting also focused on the timely completion of several major infrastructure projects being executed by the department. These include 37 ongoing road projects such as the Jaydev Vihar–Nandankanan corridor aimed at easing traffic congestion in Bhubaneswar, the Koraput–Jeypore and Brahmapur–Jeypore road projects, as well as flagship initiatives like the Namo Expressway and the Atal Expressway, along with other projects in the pipeline.
In addition, detailed discussions were held on expediting land acquisition, forest land clearances, utility shifting and other procedural requirements that often affect the pace of construction works.
Senior officials present at the meeting included Engineer-in-Chief and Special Secretary L.K. Padhi, Additional Secretaries Deepak Ranjan Das and Pradeep Sahu, Engineer-in-Chief Dhyanachand Nayak, Chief Engineer (Buildings) Priyabrat Samantaray, Chief Engineer NH-1 Narayan Patel, Chief Engineer NH-2 Deepak Panigrahi, Chief Engineer (Bridges) Arvind Tripathi, Joint Secretary Deeptiranjan Behera, Financial Advisor Ratikant Mohapatra, and other senior officers.
