Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: The ruling BJD today pressed for a single window system to facilitate timely allocation of Central funds to State. While the BJD rued that grants to Odisha are not being allocated on time causing delay in execution, the BJP alleged that the State government has failed to utilise funds disbursed by the Centre.

Odisha Finance Minister, Sashi Bhusan Behera alleged that funds are not being released by the Central government on time. “Even after three months of the Union budget, it has not been clear how much the State has received under different schemes.If the grant is disbursed in phases, the execution gets delayed. A single window system should be in place so that money is properly allocated to States and user's certificate is issued on time," he said.

It may be noted that the Odisha government recently informed the Centre that funds are not being allocated regularly to the State under the MGNREGS, National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana(PMGSY) and Sarva Sikshya Yojana.  The State had also demanded a special package after the Integrated Action Plan for Maoist areas and Backward Region Grant Fund discontinued by the Centre.

Blaming the State government for its failure to utilise the money, BJP secretary, Lekhashri Samantasinghar said, "The State government is unable to give user's certificate on time which means it agrees that work could not be completed within time as per the guidelines. The government agrees to its inefficiency," she added.

On the other hand, Congress lambasted both the Centre and State over delay in execution of projects. “The state has failed to utilise the money given by the Centre. While the Centre does not get funds on time, the State doesn’t have interests to ensure development is carried out,” Senior Congress leader, Jayadev Jena said.

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