BJD chief and ex-Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik censures Union Budget, says it has nothing for Odisha

Bhubaneswar, July 24 (DC): Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday sought to censure the Union budget saying “there is nothing for the state in it.”

“The BJP had put special category status in their manifesto as a promise to the people of Odisha. However, this promise has not been considered for Odisha, whereas special packages, allocating crores of funds have been announced for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar in Budget2024. Along with this, the demand of Odisha for revision of coal royalty, which has been pending for years with the central government has been rejected, because of which the state will lose thousands of crores of revenue every year,” Patnaik wrote in X handle.

He added: “Lots of big promises in different sectors were made to the people of Odisha during the election campaign especially on agriculture, MSME and industry. There is no mention of any promise being fulfilled in this Budget 2024. This is a complete neglect of Odisha and her people.  We all know that Odisha faces a number of natural disasters every year, including floods. We had requested a special package for disaster management. While similar requests of other states have been considered and they have been granted Special packages for flood protection, the genuine demand of Odisha on disaster management has not been considered. So on both counts whether it is a special package or revision of coal royalty, Odisha continues to be neglected by the NDA.”

Stating that the most serious issue today was inflation/price rise, and unemployment, the former CM said the budget did not have any considerable intervention to address these two major issues. We have been fighting for Justice in the Polavaram issue. Allocating more and more funds for Polavaram without sorting out the genuine grievances of Odisha shows impartiality against Odisha.

“The NDA government has been at the Centre for more than 10 years now and every budget talks of focus on Eastern India, including Odisha. There has been nothing substantial for Odisha over the years, and this budget has also been a disappointment for us, however, we shall wait for the details. I’m happy to see there is a focus on tourism for Odisha. I hope it is substantial, and we shall wait for the details to come out. I would say that, along with the people of Odisha, I feel disappointed at the continued neglect of Odisha while the state contributes so much to the country. Leaders of BJP had given many tall promises during the poll. But there is nothing for Odisha and for its people,” read his posting on the X.