Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed various departments to raise revenue to make up funds required for continuance of Central welfare schemes discontinued by the Central Government based on the 14th Finance Commission recommendations.The State is set to lose Rs2,148 crore annually due to closure of Central schemes like Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan, Model Schools in blocks, National Mission for Food Processing, KBK Yojana and the Integrated Action Plan and assistances for police modernisation and tourism infrastructure.
At a review meeting on Friday, the Chief Minister has asked concerned departments to constitute a special fund from the State exchequer to make up the required Rs2,148 crore.Minister Finance Pradeep Amat, ACS To CM AP Padhi, Chief Secretary G C Pati, Development Commissioner UN Behera and ACS Finance R Balakrishnan were present among others.Analysts, however, are quite skeptical on the capacity of the State Government to mop up over Rs2,000 crore at a time when revenue collection is increasingly becoming difficult with a virtually gloomy industrial sector.