Spl tag demand raked up 28 times since 1979

Bhubaneswar: The demand for Special Category Status to Odisha has been raised 28 times since 1979, the state government told the Assembly Wednesday.

In response to a query by Congress MLA Debendra Sharma through an unstarred question, Planning and Convergence Minister Usha Devi told the Assembly through a written reply that it was raised 28 times since 1979.

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According to the government data, the issue was raised by the then Chief Minister of Odisha Nilamani Routray while he was delivering a speech at the National Development Council meeting February 24, 1979. He demanded and proposed for declaring Odisha as a Special Category State.

Later a memorandum was submitted to the 7^th Finance Commission to consider Odisha’s case for assigning it the Special Category tag. The state Assembly also adopted a motion during the 4^th session of the 10^th Odisha Legislative Assembly March 3, 1991 to declare Odisha as a Special Category state.

However, till date the attempts have proved futile despite the state urging the Finance Commissions and the Union government to declare the state as a Special Category state. The response from the government revealed that the Finance Commission and Planning Commission have received such proposals and scrutinised them at their levels. However, no fruitful outcome has come out till now.