Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday criticised the Union Budget saying that greater focus should have been given to agriculture, irrigation and social sector.
Responding to the budget proposals, Mr. Patnaik said that “under the prevailing circumstances with high inflation coupled with drought like scenario greater focus should have been given to agriculture, irrigation and social sector. However, the budget lacks focus in all these crucial sectors”.
“Fiscal consolidation without revenue gain through introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax) is a misnomer. The concern of the States for adequate compensation for loss in Central Sales Tax has not been tackled,” Mr. Patnaik said.
The Chief Minister, who had not reacted sharply to the railway budget, said that nominal increase in allocation for flagship schemes in will hurt development process of the States.
Mr. Patnaik further said that meagre allocation on ambitious programmes like rural electrification spoke of tokenism. The Chief Minister said that except for the promise for an Indian Institute of Management (IIM), there was nothing for Odisha in this budget.
As usual the textile mega-cluster had bypassed Odisha in this buget, Mr. Patnaik added.
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from the State Dharmendra Pradhan, however, said that the budget had put prime focus on the poorer sections of the country and has adequately addressed concerns of the farming community.
“The primary and higher education and augmentation of rural infrastructure will help county’s economy to grow. The budget will create more scope for employment and income generation activities in the country,” Mr Pradhan said in a statement.
President of Odisha unit of Samajwadi Party Rabi Behera criticised the union budget terming it as “anti-poor and pro-rich”. The budget will help protect the interests of the foreign investors, Mr. Behera alleged.
