No Special Category Status to Odisha: Anurag Thakur

Bhubaneswar: The Union Government has no proposal under consideration for granting Special Category Status to Odisha, Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur said in Lok Sabha on Monday.

“There is no proposal under consideration of the Union Government for granting Special Category Status and allowing sharing pattern for Centrally Sponsored Scheme in the ratio of 90: 10 at par with North-Eastern and Himalayan States to the State of Odisha”, said the Union Minister in the Lower House.

“Further, the Fourteenth Finance Commission did not make a distinction between Special and General Category States in determining their norms and recommendations, “he added.

The Minister’s reply came in response to an unstarred question of Nabarangpur MP Ramesh Majhi who sought to know whether the Central Government has any proposal to declare Odisha as a special Category State.

Notably, the State Government had earlier demanded Special Category Status to Odisha before the Centre at multiple platforms.

Last month, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had made a strong pitch for the special category status issue before the fifth meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The Chief Minister had also raised the same demand during a meeting with the Prime Minister on June 11.

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