Bhubaneswar, May 09: Orissa would require investment of Rs. 57,562 crore, both in the government and private sectors, during the tenth plan to achieve the targeted growth rate of 6.2 per cent. In view of this, the government had been demanding special category status for the state and its endeavour to achieve it would continue, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said today. The state government had fixed a target to reduce poverty by seven per cent and create employment opportunities for 8.6 lakh people within the plan period to achieve the targeted growth rate, he said while addressing the first meeting of the reconstituted state planning board. The state needed to be pulled out of the morass of persistent poverty and to march forward steadily to achieve high levels of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development comparable to other states, he said. The deliberations at the meeting, presided over by the chairman of the board Adwait Prasad Singh, gravitated towards key areas of agriculture and management of natural resources, peoples' participation and empowerment, social sector including education, health, women and child welfare, rural infrastructure including sanitation and water supply and industrial revival and infrastructure development. Bureau Report