The Union Government has no proposal under consideration for granting Special Category Status (SCS) to Odisha, said Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur in Lok Sabha on Monday.
In reply to a question by Nabarangpur MP Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Thakur said, “There is no proposal under consideration of the Union Government for granting Special Category Status and allowing sharing pattern for Centrally Sponsored Scheme in the ratio of 90:10 at par with North-Eastern and Himalayan States to the State of Odisha.”
He also said that the Fourteenth Finance Commission did not make a distinction between Special and General Category States in determining their norms and recommendations.
Notably, the Odisha Government has been reiterating its demand in different forums for granting Special Category Status to the State. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also written to the Centre multiple times in this regard.