BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Sunday alleged that the financial crisis of the State is the creation of the State Government and demanded an all party meeting to discuss the crucial issue.
"The financial crisis is the result of the Government’s mismanagement of the economy and not solely due to COVID-19 pandemic. But the Government is trying to blame everything on the pandemic to distract attention from its own failures," former finance minister and Congress leader Panchanan Kanungo said.
Alleging that Government had taken the State towards bankruptcy by announcing a number of schemes, Kanungo said the unemployment rate in the State has steadily increased over the years as there has been no job creation.
The Government had borrowed Rs 10,000 crore in 2016-17, Rs 11,720 crore in 2017-18, Rs 17,000 crore in 2018-19 and estimated a borrowing of Rs 17,840 crore in 2020-21, he said and asked where was COVID-19 in these years.
The unemployment rate which was 13.1 per cent before COVID-19 pandemic has now reached 23.8 per cent, he said and alleged that two lakh small and medium scale industries have closed shop during the last 20 years.
All sugar mills, spinning mills and other small units have closed down in the State before the spread of coronavirus, he said and asked why the Government is not collecting pending water tax arrears of big industries.