BHUBANESWAR: Leader of Congress Legislature Party Narasingh Mishra on Tuesday slammed the state government for presenting a budget which lacked vision and did not reflect the aspirations of people.

Dubbing the budget for 2019-20 placed by Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on June 28 as ‘populist’ rhetoric that failed to address myriads of problems faced by people, Mishra said this is not a budget for the welfare of the state.

“This is a populist budget. There is no vision for the future and no roadmap for a long term growth,” the Congress veteran remarked.

Tearing into the government for claiming that its fiscal management is one of the best in the country, Mishra said the rising fiscal deficit, increasing debt burden and poor resource mobilisation year after year are demonstrative evidence of the ruling dispensation’s inefficiency in managing the economy.

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Noting that The New Indian Express has aptly summarised the Odisha budget by saying it shows no vision for the future, Mishra endorsed the editorial comment advising the government to make a shift from compulsive populism to a path of welfarism with a strong focus on sustained growth.

Giving a piece of advice to the state government on resource mobilisation, the former law minister said with its abundant natural resources, the state could earn more than Rs 70,000 crore from the mining sector alone if appropriate laws are enacted to regulate the mining business.

As mining leases granted to private companies are set to expire by March 2020, the state government must take measures to bring these mines under its control and operate them through its agencies.

If necessary, the government should set up corporations for exploration of mineral from these mines which are functional.

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Instead of putting the virgin mines into action as per the new MMDR Act 2015, the state government should operate them which will generate revenue to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore annually.

Even as the state has the scope to generate around 20,000 crore tax from mineral bearing land, there is no sincere effort from the government.

Though the state has been making laws to impose tax on mineral bearing land, it has not been successful as these have been struck down by courts.

The state government passed a bill in 2004 to enact Odisha Rural Infrastructure and Socio-Economic Development Act, but it was struck down by the Odisha High Court as the bill had lot of flaws.

Mishra advised the government to bring a fresh legislation in the light of the law enacted by West Bengal which will enable it to generate huge revenue.

Finance Minister justifies market borrowing

Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari on Tuesday justified market borrowing by the state government to finance budget expenditure.

Brushing aside Opposition concern on the issue, he said a growing economy like Odisha needs capital infusion to create assets.

“Cyclone Fani caused large-scale devastation to public infrastructure which needs to be restored. Besides, we have to develop cyclone resistant infrastructure to withstand such calamity in future,” he said.

Replying to general discussions on the state’s budget for 2019-20, Pujari said, “Developing state like Odisha needs capital investment for long term growth.”

Asserting that Odisha’s financial position is much better than many states of the country, he said the State’s loan burden is well within the prescribed parameters.

Odisha has become revenue surplus since 2004-05 and its economy is growing at a faster rate.

This is possible due to prudent fiscal management and better utilisation of the budgetary allocation, he added.