Overview
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who sent a four-page letter Wednesday to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, set ₹10,600 crore in 2025–26 rail funds for Odisha and laid out a port-led growth plan.
- Majhi thanked him in a public message, vowed to protect Odia language and culture, and said stronger rail links plus coastal projects would help build a major maritime and industrial hub.
- The plan names work around Paradip Port, LNG terminals at Paradip and Gopalpur, a proposed Bahuda Port, and a Mahanadi riverine shipbuilding project that could cut freight costs and speed exports.
- Modi praised former CM Biju Patnaik as a national inspiration, while reports noted a party reprimand after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s earlier remark that linked Patnaik to the CIA drew criticism.
- The announcements land as Odisha marks 90 years since its 1936 formation as India’s first language-based state, with recent data showing a ₹9.9 lakh crore economy, faster growth, and gains in fisheries plus new AI and semiconductor policies.