BHUBANESWAR: The 15th Finance Commission (FC) has recommended a total transfer of Rs 2.22 lakh crore to Odisha for five years against a demand of Rs 8.24 lakh crore.
The final report of the 15th Finance Commission was placed in the Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.
The Commission has recommended vertical share of states at 41 per cent (pc), though the horizontal share of Odisha has gone down from 4.629 pc to 4.528 pc for the five-year period from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Reacting to the Commission's recommendations, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said decrease in horizontal share of Odisha will seriously impact its economy.According to the report, the share in the Central taxes and duties of Odisha will be Rs 1,91,297 crore for the period. The Commission, however, maintained that this is only indicative and the size of the actual amount will vary with the size of the divisible pool during the period.
The Commission has recommended Rs 15,752 crore for local governments while Rs 8,865 crore will be available for disaster management. In the Covid-19 scenario, the Commission has also recommended Rs 962 crore for health sector development. While Rs 1,949 crore has been sanctioned for roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Rs 45 crore will be available for statistics.
Similarly, judiciary and higher education sectors will receive Rs 425 crore and Rs 218 crore respectively while Rs 1,271 crore has been recommended for agriculture sector. The Commission has recommended Rs 1,775 crore under State specific grants for Odisha for the five year period.
To develop district-level drought mitigation plans, the Commission has recommended allocation of Rs 100 crore each to 12 most drought-prone states including Odisha. Besides, each of the aspirational districts will also receive Rs 50 lakh each.
The 14th FC had recommended Rs 1.84 lakh crore for Odisha towards share in Central taxes and duties for 2015-20 period, 165 pc jump over Rs 69,316 crore recommended by the 13th FC.