Bhubaneswar; The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, has given a mixed reaction on the Union Budget FY 2021.
Patnaik has welcomed the Krushi Rail and Krushi Udan initiatives for a seamless natioinal cold supply chain in the budget. He also appreciated the PM-Kusum which will provide solar pumps to 20 lakh farmers.
Removal of dividend tax, introduction of concessional component tax, concessional tax rates to coopeative organisations, increase of deposit insurance coverage from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and FDI in education sector have been flagged off as positive steps by the chief minister.
He, however, expressed concern over stagnation in allocations under Centrally Sponsored Schemes, shrinking of divisible Central tax pool by almost Rs59,000 crore(Odisha’s share would be reduced by Rs 3000 crore), and ignoring archaeological sites of Odisha for inclusion in the iconic sites to be developed by the Centre are some of the areas of concern for the chief minister. He also said that the allocation of Rs 11, 500 crore nationally under drinking water scheme against an approved plan of Rs 3.6 lakh crore is a matter of concern. He pointed out that Odisha alone spends about Rs 3,600 crore in drinking water projects.
Given that the BSE Sensex dipped over 1000 points on Saturday soon after the Budget was presented, the chief minister said that there was a huge scope to take a number of measures.
Stating that investors confidence is important for fresh investment to come in, to spur growth which is biggest challenge now, the chief minister said this will have huge impact of job creation and livelihood options for the youth.
