Odisha CM dubs Raghuram panel report as "unfortunate"
Terming the Raghuram Rajan Committee report as "unfortunate", Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state would continue its fight for the Special Category Status.
|Last Updated: Sep 26, 2013, 09:14 PM IST|Source: Bureau
Bhubaneswar: Terming the Raghuram Rajan Committee report as "unfortunate", Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state would continue its fight for the Special Category Status.
"Unfortunately, we find that while Odisha has been categorised as a least developed state, Special Category Status has not been accorded to us," Patnaik told reporters while reacting over the Raghuram Rajan panel.
Stating that the state has been demanding special category status for the last 40 years, Patnaik said the UPA government and the Congress leaders gave the impression that the Raghuram Rajan Committee would address this issue.
Odisha`s demand for special category status included central allocation on 90:10 basis and tax exemption for new investment, Patnaik said.
"Therefore, we`ill continue our fight for this just cause," Patnaik said.
Earlier, the state assembly, in a unanimous resolution, had supported the demand of special category status for Odisha.
The state unit of Samajwadi Party in a statement said that Odisha had been once again being ignored. "Denial of special category state status to Odisha is an instance of yet another discrimination towards the state," said Samajwadi Party president Rabi Behera.
Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh of Congress on the other hand said the Raghuram Rajan panel had identified Odisha among the 10 least developed state. This would ensure more assistance for the state, Singh said.
Senior BJP leader and former law minister B B Harichandan said "If the panel finds Odisha in the list of least developed states, why not according special category status to the state."
The 10 least developed states are Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
PTI
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