Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday said the NDA Government at the Centre continued to deprive Odisha of its legitimate share.
“When compared with the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the share of Odisha is lessened by about Rs 3,500 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 4,600 crore in 2016-17 from the recommended level. Depriving the States of their legitimate share is rather unfair,” Panaik said in his reaction to the Union Budget placed in the Parliament on the day.
He said increase in allocation for PMKSY, the flagship irrigation scheme of the Centre from Rs 5,300 crore to Rs 5,700 crore for the whole country is insignificant. He boasted of the saying that his Government had allocated more than Rs 6,500 crore in its Budget for the State’s Water Resources in 2015-16 alone.
Regarding allocations in education sector, the Chief Minister said, “I am also not able to understand the logic behind the huge cut in allocation for both primary and higher education sectors.”
The allocation for Tribal Welfare under Article-275(1) and TSP is almost stagnant. From the point of view of Odisha, this is a huge disappointment, he said.
Stating that there is a mismatch in the growth of net tax revenue to the Centre and tax devolution to the States, he said, “The net tax revenue to the Centre has been projected to increase by about 3 per cent from Rs 9.20 lakh crore in Budget Estimates for 2015-16 to Rs 9.48 lakh crore in Revised Estimates, 2015-16, where as the tax devolution to the States has gone down by about 3.5 per cent in the Revised Estimates. This is indicative of the fact that the Centre is depriving the States of their share through levy of Cess and Surcharge, which do not form a part of the sharable pool.”
He said the finances of Odisha would be stretched on account of less than anticipated transfer of resources from the Centre. He said the State Government has taken a right decision to place its Budget after presentation of the Union Budget; otherwise it would have been an impractical guess work.
However, he welcomed the Budget for enhanced allocations made for the agriculture, housing, drinking water and sanitation, urban livelihood and road infrastructure sectors. “This is in sync with our own priorities,’ he said.