Nothing substantial, Naveen blasts Centre for ‘continued neglect’ to Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Former chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday termed the Union Budget 2024-25 as a disappointment for Odisha.

“During elections, BJP leaders had given many big assurances for state, but there is nothing in the Budget for Odisha. Along with the people of the state, I feel disappointed at the continued neglect of Odisha,” Naveen, who is also the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in state Assembly, said in a video message.

The BJD president said that the BJP has failed to keep its promise for special category status to Odisha despite mentioning it in its election manifesto. “This promise has not been considered for Odisha, whereas special packages, allocating crores of funds have been announced for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. 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,” he said.

He added that the BJD had requested for a special package for disaster management since Odisha faces a number of natural disasters every year, including floods. “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 special package or revision of coal royalty, Odisha continues to be neglected by the NDA,” he stressed.

Naveen also reminded the BJP of its “big promises” in different sectors, specially in agriculture, MSME and industry, made to the people of Odisha. “There is no mention of any promise being fulfilled in this Budget. This is a complete neglect of Odisha and her people,” he said.

The former CM further said that the Budget does not have any considerable intervention to address inflation/price rise and unemployment.

Speaking about betrayal over Polavaram project, Naveen said: “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,” he said.

The BJD supremo, however, expressed happiness about 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,” it added.

Earlier in the day, the BJD MPs walked out of Rajya Sabha, accusing the ruling BJP of ‘completely neglecting’ the coastal state.