Union Budget does not address price rise issue: BJD in RS

Bhubaneswar: Echoing chief minister Naveen Patnaik, his party member Prashanta Nanda in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday said the Union Budget 2022-23 has no answer for the current price rise for which the middle-class, poor and farmers are struggling.
Nanda said the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas and other household commodities have increased excessively and the Budget too has disappointed people.
The BJD, however, appreciated the focus areas of the Budget like research and development infrastructure, capital expenditure, digital health platform and digital currency.
Nanda said emphasis on these sectors would go a long way for the development of the country’s economy.
“Reduction in MGNREGA funds amid a pandemic situation will not help the poor. Serious issues like dislocation in paddy procurement and further reduction in food subsidy under the NFSA will put the farmers in a serious trouble,” the BJD leader added.
He criticised the increased level of cess and surcharge, which reduced transfer of shared tax. “Delinking of eight centrally-sponsored schemes, abolition of normal central assistance and steep increase in the state’s share in those schemes have imposed severe financial burden on the state.”
Nanda said discontinuation of central assistance for area development programmes like special plan for Koraput-Balangir-Kalahandi region, backward region grant fund and integrated action plan for Left wing extremism-affected districts have hampered developmental programmes for some of the backward regions of Odisha.
He demanded a special package for the state from the budget provisions available from the NITI Aayog for continuation of area-specific development programmes.
Stating that Odisha has received global acclaim for its disaster management, BJD member Sujeet Kumar said the disaster response fund should be 90:10 between the Centre and the state.
Kumar appreciated the grant of Rs 9,700 crore for development of railway sector in Odisha but said the railway ministry should not lower the amount in the revised estimates.
Kumar said the Centre should take care of the need of Odisha in terms of railway density, highways and banking sector.