Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to release the promised amount of Rs 399.83 crore which was sanctioned to the State as Phailin aid.
In a letter to Jaitley, Patnaik said, “The State Government had done an excellent work both before the cyclone Phailin which affected the State in October 2013 and afterward, for relief and rehabilitation of the affected persons. Unfortunately, because of an erroneous assessment by the Inter Ministerial Central Team, our legitimate dues were not sanctioned from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in the high level committee meeting chaired by the then Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar,” said Patnaik.
“The State Government pointed out the error and I was pleased to receive the letter dated 10.09.2014 from the Ministry of Home Affairs informing me that the expenditure of Rs 399.83 crore was approved. However, this was subsequently not given effect to,” added Patnaik.