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Bhubaneswar: A day after the 15th Finance Commission report revealed that Odisha's position in several sectors, especially in health, education, poverty and agriculture, is quite disappointing, opposition parties today lashed out at the ruling-BJD government.
Senior BJP leader and Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari said that the 15th Finance Commission report has exposed the actual picture of Odisha as compared to other states in the country which are on a developing track, especially in case of education, infrastructure building and healthcare sectors.
Congress MP Saptagiri Ulaka said that the use of MPLAD funds has received a setback in the State. "If the government will not carry out developmental works, it will get less fund. There's also a need to announce special package for Odisha for its development," he said.
Responding to the allegations of the opposition parties, BJD MLA Amar Satpathy said that Odisha is not behind in all the sectors. "There are some sectors where the State is ahead of the national average. The 15th Finance Commission's recommendations will pose as a hindrance to the development of Odisha," he added.
As per the 15th Finance Commission report, the State needs to work on health, education and agriculture for accelerating growth. Presently, there are 1,276 vacancies (83.5% shortfall) of specialists in CHCs against the sanctioned strength of 1,529, and 409 vacancies (30.8% shortfall) of doctors in PHCs against the sanctioned strength of 1,326.
The Commission said that the annual per capita expenditure on education in Odisha should be increased from Rs 2,707 in 2016-17 to at least the GS average of Rs 2,876. It has also recommended the State to look into the povety rate which was 32.6 per cent in 2011-12, while the national average was 21.92 per cent.
Only 4 per cent of rural households have PWS connections in the State, which is less than one-fourth of the all India coverage of 18.3 per cent. It further said that the State needs to make concrete effort to raise its area under irrigation (percentage of gross irrigated area over gross cropped area) from 28.7 per cent to at least the national average of 48.6 per cent in 2014-15.
On the other hand, as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission, Odisha's horizontal share will decrease from 4.629 percent to 4.528 percent for coming 5 years. This will seriously impact the State. "We will definitely suffer due to the reduction in the share. We will take up the issue with the Centre," said Odisha Minister Padmanabha Behera.
