Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Feb 28: Finance minister Arun Jaitley doled out special packages for West Bengal and Bihar but handed over a peanut to Orissa in the General Budget 2015-16 presented by in Parliament Saturday.
In his hour-long speech, Jaitley proposed setting up of an Indian Institute of Science and Educational Research in Orissa though the state has been demanding special assistance for a long time.
Expressing dismay, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “Though decisions have been taken on some of the long pending issues which are expected to boost the economy, I am deeply disappointed over the 14th Finance Commission recommendations and the Union Budget.”
While no allocation has been made in the Budget for the upcoming Nabakalebar festival in Puri, provisions were made for improvement of facilities in nine other heritage cities in the country, said the Chief Minister.
“Special assistance has been declared for Bihar and West Bengal but Orissa was neglected. Our state faced two worst calamities – Phailin and Hudhud – in the last couple of years. At least on this count, Orissa deserved special focus. I am shocked that in spite of repeated demands the fact has completely been ignored,” he added.
Coming down heavily on the NDA government for reducing state’s share in the pool of Central tax collection, Patnaik said, the devolution will come down from 4.78 per cent to 4.60 per cent, involving a loss of about Rs 4,600 crore during next five years. This is because of the inclusion of demographic changes criterion and deletion of the criterion of fiscal discipline.
“We have had exceptional achievements in FRBM (fiscal responsibility and budget management) parameters and our fiscal disciple has been much better than most of the other states and now we are being penalised and going to lose funds because of our good fiscal performances,” Patnaik said.
