BJD terms Budget as ‘anti-Odisha’; 9 MPs stage walk out during FM’s speech

Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd and the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha expressed happiness for the budgetary announcement on priority to the state’s tourism sector

Bhubaneshwar: The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday described the Union Budget, presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday in the Parliament, as ‘anti-Odisha’, claiming that the Centre has ignored genuine concerns of the state even as nine of its MPs staged a walkout during the FM’s speech.

BJD president and former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik (File Photo)

Senior Congress leader Srikant Jena alleged that Odisha has been betrayed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the budget. 

“The double-engine government has failed to give justice to the state in the budget,” said Jena.

The BJP came to power in Odisha for the first time in 24 years, defeating the BJD in the recently held assembly polls.

Former chief minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik said even though the BJP had put special category status in their manifesto as a promise to the people of Odisha, the promise has not been considered, whereas special packages, allocating crores of funds have been announced for Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.

Patnaik said that a lot of “big promises” in different sectors were made to the people of Odisha during the election campaign, especially on agriculture, MSME and industry, however, there is no mention of any promise being fulfilled in this budget.

“This is a complete neglect of Odisha and her people. Odisha faces a number of natural disasters every year, including floods. We had requested 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 for disaster management has not been considered. So on both counts whether it is a special package or revision of coal royalty, Odisha continues to be neglected by the NDA,” alleged Patnaik.

Opposing the allocation for the Polavaram irrigation project, Patnaik said it showed impartiality against the state despite its genuine grievances on the project.

BJD leader Prasanna Acharya said though the Polavaram irrigation project will inundate a large chunk of land in the tribal-dominated Malkangiri district, the budgetary allocation for the project showed the Union government’s bias towards Andhra Pradesh as the BJP depended on the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for the numbers in Parliament.

TDP, led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is a key ally of the BJP and is part of the NDA coalition. 

BJD MP Sasmit Patra took to X to show his party’s disapproval. “Probably this is the punishment for electing 20 BJP Lok Sabha MPs out of 21 seats from Odisha and the reward to the BJP allies from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.” 

Meanwhile, Odisha deputy chief minister Pravati Parida, Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ltd and the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha expressed happiness for the budgetary announcement on priority to the state’s tourism sector.

In her Budget speech, Sitharaman said Odisha’s scenic beauty, temples, monuments, craftsmanship, natural landscape, wildlife sanctuaries, and pristine beaches make it an ultimate tourism destination. “The states in the eastern part of the country are rich in endowments and have strong cultural traditions. We will formulate a plan Purvodaya for the all-round development of the eastern region of the country. The Centre will provide assistance for their development in Odisha as well,” she said.

Deputy CM Parida said the Centre’s announcements for Odisha would go a long way to promoting and developing its tourism sector. “We want to make Odisha the top three states in the country, and the tourism sector is already contributing towards this,” said Parida, who also looks after the tourism department.

In 2022-23, Odisha figured last in the list of states receiving the highest number of international tourists, with only 22,000 of them coming to the state.

Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha president JK Mohanty said the hotel industry needs more than 22 clearances from various departments which takes a lot of time. “The government should give at least five years for completion of the project after single window clearance,” Mohanty said, adding that officials at embassies and the external affairs ministry should be invited to Odisha on trips so that the state’s tourism products can be promoted internationally.