BHUBANESWAR: Odisha, which is passing through a financial crisis because of less than expected revenue generation, expects good allocation for the state in the central budget going to be presented on February 1.
The state is hopeful of better allocation of funds especially in the railway sector with adequate provision for the ongoing projects and announcement of new railway lines for Southern districts, most of which do not have railway network. "The Odisha government has placed its demand before the Centre for the annual budget and expects good allocation," Finance Minister Pradip Amat told mediapersons.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik had requested Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu for a package of Rs 5870 crore for development of railway infrastructure in Odisha. In his letter to the Railway Minister on railway budget proposals, the Chief Minister had requested sanction of Gopalpur-Singarpur Road New BG Line (via Padampur, Ramanguda, Bankili), Bhadrachalam-Bimlagarh, Bargarh-Nuapada via Padampur and Talcher-Gopalpur railway line projects which will pass through the unconnected and backward districts.
The Chief Minister had proposed East Coast dedicated freight corridor from Kharagpur to Vijayawada and East-West dedicated freight corridor from Jharsuguda to Bilaspur to ensure seamless movement of freight between upcoming ports on the Odisha coast along with Paradip and the vast northern and central hinterlands of India. Though the corridors were announced in 2016-17 railway budget there has been no follow-up action.
The Odisha government had also reiterated its demand for revision of coal royalty and compensation for the loss of Central Sales Tax which was phased out for implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). "The current royalty rate on coal is 14 percent ad valorem and this has not been revised through Ministry of Coal has constituted a study group to consider revision of royalty on coal on July 21, 2014. The royalty on coal was last revised in 2012," Finance Minister Pradip Amat had said at the pre-budget consultation meeting convened by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.
While the rate of royalty remained unrevised, the Centre levied Clean Environment Cess of Rs 400 per tonne which is almost four times of the royalty that is earned by the State. The state government had also demanded opening of bank branches in identified unbanked gram panchayats. Besides, adequate allocation was also demanded for repair, maintenance and development of highways.