Odisha gets allocations only for extractions of its resources and not for people's welfare: Patnaik

BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Sunday expressed disappointment over the provisions made for Odisha in the Union Budget and said the state gets allocations only for the extraction of its natural resources, with little focus on peoples welfare.

BJD president Naveen Patnaik on Sunday expressed ''disappointment'' over the provisions made for Odisha in the Union Budget and said the state gets allocations only for the extraction of its natural resources, with little focus on people's welfare. Odisha and its people deserve more and better from the Union Budget, Patnaik said while reacting to the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament earlier in the day. ''As seen from the entirety of the Union Budget, Odisha is getting allocations only for taking its natural resources away and completely ignored when it comes to resource allocation for benefit of people of the state,'' he said. ''I express my disappointment on the #Budget2026 presented today by the Union Government. The budget has offered no noteworthy benefits to #Odisha and its people,'' he said in a social media post. The regional party that ruled Odisha from 2000 to 2024 also ridiculed the BJP-led Union government's allocations for the state despite the saffron party winning 20 of the state's 21 Lok Sabha seats in the previous elections. Patnaik said the expectation of people was that the double-engine government would provide a growth momentum with a focus on infrastructure, job creation and additional allocations due to the state, but ''the state has received very little''. However, Patnaik welcomed the proposal for establishment of the Rare Earth Corridor in Odisha. He said the state is the leading producer of several key minerals and will always contribute to nation building through its rich resources. The five-time former chief minister noted that the Budget again announced National Waterways to connect mineral-rich areas and industrial centres to ports, but said the proposal was a decade old and there has been ''no progress on the ground''. Patnaik also said it was a huge disappointment that the announcement to develop seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities as 'growth connectors' does not feature Odisha. The BJD chief alleged that Odisha's BJP government had ''nipped the Bhubaneswar Metro project earlier'' and that the neglect of people's needs had continued. He said, ''It's quite baffling that the tourism centric scheme for development of Buddhist Circuits has completely skipped Odisha despite having several very important Buddhist sites including our Diamond Triangle.'' Complementing Patnaik's statement, BJD national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra ridiculed the BJP government's allocations for the state. ''Today's Union Budget is a stark reminder that Odisha remains a story of utter neglect. Despite the state delivering a clean sweep 20 BJP MPs and a BJP government at the state level, the much-touted 'double engine' has resulted in zero gains for our people. This Budget signifies a total breakdown of central promises,'' Patra said. ''Despite Odisha being a top contributor to national railway and mining revenues, we have been denied Fiscal Justice. The 2014 pledge of Special Category Status has officially been relegated to a 'Jumla,' while our demands for a Coal Royalty revision and support for our distressed farmers have been met with a deafening silence from the 20 BJP MPs. This outcome proves one thing: Only the @bjd_odisha, under the visionary leadership of Naveen Patnaik Ji, stands as the unwavering shield for Odisha's interests,'' Patra said in a post on X. Meanwhile, Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry Limited (UCCIL) president Prabodh Mohanty described Sitharaman's Budget as ''growth oriented'' and ''balanced.'' He said provisions made under infrastructure, tourism, agriculture along with rare earth corridor proposal will help boost Odisha's economy. Renowned economist Kumarbar Das, however, said: ''I will give six out of 10 to this Budget as it lacks provisions to address the problem of unemployment and some other issues linked to the common man.''

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