Bhubaneswar: Amid boycott of his speech by opposition Congress members, Governor Ganeshi Lal Monday said political stability has provided the state with an “unrestricted space” for growth and development.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra accused the Governor of maintaining “double standards”.”We boycotted the Governor’s address as he praised the state government’s activities in his speech. While he (Governor) acts as a different person outside the assembly, the Governor is all praise for the government inside the house,” the senior Congress leader said.
Lal, during his speech in the Assembly, said the state has been consistently growing at a rate higher than the national average. “Odisha’s economy is on the path of steady growth. From subsistence to sustenance and from sustenance to surplus, Odisha’s pace of transformation has been exceptional and the state’s growth is inclusive,” he said, marking the beginning of the budget session.
The Biju Janata Dal government is “untiringly striving to eradicate poverty, accelerate the pace of economic growth, reduce regional disparity and gender differences” through various socio-economic measures and pro-people initiative, the Governor maintained.
Stating that Odisha has achieved significant improvement in finance during the past 18 years by implementing various fiscal reforms, the Governor said the state has been able to adhere to all parameters envisaged in its Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.
“The debt stress of the state has been brought down to 17.8 per cent in 2017-18 from the level of 50.7 per cent in 2002-03, due to concerted efforts of my government. Similarly, the interest payment to revenue receipt ratio has been brought down from 40.2 per cent in 2001-02 to 5.9 per cent in 2017-18,” the governor said.
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