BHUBANESWAR: With the State Planning Board not having met for over a decade, Opposition Congress slammed the State Government for making a mockery of the plan panel. “The State Planning Board is in coma as it has not met for a long time. There is a policy paralysis as the ruling BJD failed to tackle basic issues despite being in power for four consecutive terms,” Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra told the Assembly.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is the Chairman of the State Planning Board which had last met on October 15, 2007. Lambasting the Government for lack of planning, Mishra said the State’s revenue earning could have gone up by more than Rs 60,000 crore had it implemented the recommendations of Sanjeeb Hota Committee, an expert panel constituted to suggest revenue enhancement measures.
Participating in the discussion on demand for grants of Planning and Convergence Department, Mishra said the committee had suggested that at least Rs 1,000 per hectare per annum be fixed as the surface rent for land not accessible to land revenue with respect to major minerals. Such a move could have generated revenue to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore.
Moreover, the committee had also recommended the State Government to lease out all mines of important minerals in favour of the State-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). At a conservative estimate, the income from minerals royalty would have been around Rs 50,000 crore.
The State’s budget size could have ballooned to 1.8 lakh crore against Rs 1.2 lakh crore had the State Government taken steps to mobilise resources from the mining sector, he added.
Attributing political motive to non-implementation of the Hota Committee recommendations, Mishra said such a move will not benefit the BJD as its major source of income from private miners will dry up.
He further criticised the State Government for ignoring the recommendations of the departmentally-related standing committee for increasing MLA’s local area development (LAD) fund from Rs 1 crore to Rs 4 crore.
As per the Parliamentary practice, the Congress leader said the demand for grants of the department should be accepted either on the light of the recommendations of the standing committee or rejected by citing reasons. Since the Government has not rejected the recommendation, it should implement it.
He reiterated his demand for a financial support of Rs 1000 crore to Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) which has failed to fulfill its objective due to scarcity of funds and lack of manpower.
Planning and Convergence Minister Usha Devi said the department is playing a vital role in evolving effective and sustainable strategies for overall development of the State.