Bhubaneswar: There is nothing for Odisha in the Union Budget 2024 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Parliament today, said Odisha's Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Strongly criticising the budget this fiscal, Patnaik cornered the BJP-led NDA Government on key issues of Odisha that the BJP had promised to address if the party voted to power in the state.

He raised the special category status, coal royalty, MSME & farmers issue, inflation and most important Polavaram issue.

"The BJP had put special category status in their manifesto as a promise to the people of Odisha. However, this promise has not been considered for Odisha, whereas special packages, allocating crores of funds have been announced for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. Along with this, the demand of Odisha for revision of coal royalty, which has been pending for years with the central government has been rejected, because of which the state will lose thousands of crores of revenue every year," the BJD Supremo said in a statement.

He alleged that the party had made big promises to people of Odisha for development in different sectors during its election campaign especially on agriculture, MSME and Industry. There is nothing mention of any promise being fulfilled in this budget. This is a complete neglect of Odisha and its people.

He lambasted the Modi government for not allocating special package for Odisha for disaster management.

"We all know that Odisha faces a number of natural disasters every year, including floods. We had requested for a special package for disaster management. While similar requests of other states have been considered and they have been granted Special packages for flood protection, the genuine demand of Odisha on disaster management has not been considered. So on both counts whether it is special package or revision of coal royalty, Odisha continues to be neglected by the NDA," Patnaik said.

On price rise on essential commodities and unemployment, he said, "Today, the most serious issue being faced by the common public is inflation/price rise, and unemployment. This budget does not have any considerable intervention to address these two major issues."

Raking up Polavaram project, he slammed the Centre for its commitment to complete the 'anti-Odisha' project on urgent basis.

"We have been fighting for Justice in the Polavaram issue. Allocating more and more funds for Polavaram without sorting out the genuine grievances of Odisha shows impartiality against Odisha," he said.

Hitting out at the Centre for its continued negligence for Odisha for last one decade, he said, "The NDA government has been at the centre for more than 10 years now and every budget talks of focus on Eastern India, including Odisha. There has been nothing substantial for Odisha over the years, and this budget has also been a disappointment for us. However, we shall wait for the details.

He hailed the Centre for budgetary allocation for development of tourism in Odisha.

"I hope it is substantial and we shall wait for the details to come out," he said, adding "I would say that along with people of Odisha, I feel disappointed at the continued neglect of Odisha while the state contributes so much to the country. The BJP leaders had made big promises to people of Odisha, but allocated nothing for the state in the budget."