Naveen Patnaik questions expenditure, voices concern over Odisha’s development
Bhubaneswar, Dec 8 – Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik fired a blistering rebuke at Odisha’s ruling government on Monday, saying that the administration has not put the budgeted money to use for the people or for the state’s development projects.
Speaking to reporters outside the assembly, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president quoted himself: “I am sad to say that there is no expenditure being made by the State Government for the people of this state and for their development.” He added that this issue has been raised repeatedly before, yet the government appears to have turned a blind eye.
Patnaik went on to claim that the government’s policies are hurting every segment of society, and that “Everyone is suffering. It’s not exclusive to any people, it is everyone that is suffering. It’s like they’re playing on empty vessels, and we all know that empty vessels make a good sound, and that’s what they’re satisfied by.”
Earlier in the session, the opposition leader criticized the chief minister, Mohan Charan Majhi—who also handles the finance portfolio—during a debate over the appropriation bill. Majhi had presented a Rs 17,440 crore supplementary budget for FY 26 on November 28 to back ongoing schemes in food security, health, education and urban infrastructure.
The Lok Sabha’s opposition reiterated that the state has not spent the funds allotted to its ministries in the current fiscal year. As of the end of October, the government had only spent 39 % of the total budget allocation, a figure the opposition leader described as highly disappointing.
gyan/pgh
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