Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today decried the paltry allocation for Odisha under the Backward Region Grant Fund, while the ruling BJD called a 12-hour bandh in the state on April 26 in protest.
"It is most unfortunate that the Central government is discriminating against Odisha on political considerations. This is a clear case of negligence of our state once again," Patnaik told reporters here.
Patnaik was reacting to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approving allocation of only Rs 250 cr per annum for the poverty stricken Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) region in the state.
Finance minister Prasanna Acharya, who is also BJD Vice-President, alleged that the CCEA gave virtually nothing to Odisha while allocated Rs 12,000 crore for Bihar and Rs 4,400 crore for Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh.
"CCEA allocated only Rs 250 crore per annum for KBK during 12th plan period as during the 11th plan period," he said.
He claimed that the state has sustained a loss of Rs 5,000 crore already as the UPA government reduced the percentage of allocations in the 13th Finance Commission to 4.78 per cent from 5.15 per cent in the 12th Finance Commission.
The state also lost about Rs 2,550 crore in the 2012-13 fiscal due to slash in the central budget, he said.
