Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 17:
The annual budget of Odisha for the year 2015-16, presented by Finance minister Pradip Amat in the State Assembly on Monday, has slashed the annual alloaction for 10 major departments.
While the outlay for the Housing and Urban Development department has been slashed by 30 percent, the Cooperation department has suffered a cut of 20 percent, followed by the Higher Education department (18%), Women and Child Development department (12%), ST and SC Development department (8%), Energy department (8%) and Panchayati Raj Department (6%).
Besides, allocation for Forest and Environment, Revenue and Disaster Management and Health & Family Welfare departments has also been slashed.
However, the outlay for Rural Development, Water Resources, Agriculture and Works departments have been increased by 33%, 26%, 15% and 12% respectively.
In terms of financial allocation, the Water Resources department has received the highest amount of Rs 4957 crore, followed by Panchayati Raj department (Rs 4831 crore), Rural Development department (Rs 4730 crore), School and Mass Education department (Rs 4004 crore), Women and Child Development department (Rs 3776 crore) and Works department (Rs 2485 crore).