Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik conducted a detailed review of the status of release of Central funds to Odisha during 2018-19, at Odisha Bhawan in New Delhi today.
Noting that only about two months are left for the current financial year to come to an end, he observed that the State is yet to receive over Rs.6400 crore from the Central Government. He expressed concern that a large amount of funds pertaining to Agriculture, Housing, Rural Development, Health, Education, Women & Child Development, Roads, Irrigation and Drinking Water are still pending for release.
Hon’ble Chief Minister remarked that more than Rs.1000 crore for Housing, over
Rs.375 crore in Health, more than Rs.400 crore under MGNREGA and over Rs.650 crore
under Agriculture are still to be released by Government of India. He observed that while Odisha Government is spending more than Rs.3000 crore on Drinking Water from the State Budget, Government of India has allocated a meagre amount of Rs.180 crore, out of which they have released just about Rs.80 crore. Similarly, under Smart City Poverty Alleviation, out of Rs.200 crore, the State has received only Rs.6 crore till date.
Hon’ble Chief Minister impressed upon the officers of the Office of Chief Resident
Commissioner about the urgency of the matter and desired that the release of pending Central funds to the State should be closely monitored and followed up to ensure release of maximum amount due to the State by February end, 2019.
Chief Resident Commissioner apprised the Hon’ble Chief Minister that a team of ten
officers has been formed to effectively liaise with the concerned Departments and facilitate release of the balance pending Central funds to the State. He assured that all efforts will be made during next one month to secure maximum release by February end, 2019.
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