The Odisha government is not proactive in taking advantage of the Central government schemes, alleged BJP general secretary Ram Madhav here on Wednesday.
“The government does not submit proposals for new projects and also lags in spending sanctioned funds. It is the responsibility of the State governments to make full utilisation of the Central sector funds. The Odisha government should wake up from deep slumber and come forward to take advantage of the schemes,” said Mr. Madhav attacking the Naveen Patnaik government at a press conference here.
Stating that one of the important aspects of this year’s Budget was to provide support to the States basing on their performance, he said, “Heavy budgetary allocation has been made in fishery, solar and water resource sectors. If the State government comes up with good proposals, the Centre is ready to provide support.”
He termed the Union Budget growth oriented. The Budget had given priority to development of critical sectors such as agriculture, water resources and infrastructure and uplift of youth, women and socially and economically backward classes, the BJP leader said, adding that it would help the country come out of the economic slowdown.
“The experience with the Odisha government has not been pleasant one. Instead of making false allegations that it was ignored by the Central government, it must make utmost utilisation of the sanctioned fund. We want to give many projects to Odisha but the State is not ready to take them,” he said. The allegations of decrease in the Central allocation for the State were baseless, said Mr. Madhav.