BHUBANESWAR : The BJP has requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to increase the financial limit for project expenditure by allowing all western Odisha MLAs to submit project proposal worth Rs 5 crore to Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) every financial year.
A letter signed by seven saffron party legislators said that MLAs of the 37 Assembly constituencies under WODC are currently allowed to submit project proposals worth Rs 1 crore every fiscal. With the government doubling the financial grant from Rs 100 crore to Rs 200 crore per annum, the project expenditure limit of each MLA should be enhanced, they said.
“The State government has increased budgetary allocation to WODC to `200 crore from 2021-22 financial year. It is, therefore, requested that each MLA of WODC area may be allowed to submit project proposal worth `5 crore per year so that we can give sustainable proposals for the benefit of people of our area (WODC),” the letter said. MLAs of Deogarh, Loisingha, Rengali, Sundargarh, Talsara and Sambalpur have signed the letter.
The WODC comprises 10 districts of Bargarh, Balangir, Boudh, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Sambalpur, Subarnapur, Sundargarh and Athamallick sub-division of Angul.