Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik termed the State Budget as “nothing short of brilliant”. “Odisha Budget is pro-people, pro-growth and transformative budget in our journey towards ‘New Odisha-Empowered Odisha‘ where most of last year we lost in Covid-19 lockdowns,” said PatnaikHe pointed out that as part of Green budget initiative, Odisha is one of the first States to adopt complete E-budgeting.
However, Opposition leaders criticised the Budget saying it is simple a whitewash; nothing concrete has been envisioned.Leader of Opposition (LoP) Pradipta Naik (BJP) said the Budget simply plays with statistics not based on inflation.
There is nothing on rural employment and infrastructure. The State Budget largely depends on Central allocations, but the State Government is not ready to give credit to the Centre. BJP Legislature Party Deputy Leader Bishnu Sethi questioned what steps are taken to provide livelihoods of migrant labouers.
Congress legislator Santosh Singh Saluja questioned that though the Government has presented a separate budget for agriculture, what is it doing for farmers’ welfare! Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati rubbished the Budget saying the Government has painted a rosy picture to simply hoodwink people.
“When you have mentioned taking loan of Rs 17,000 crore, what is the meaning of plan outlay,” he asked.