Bhubaneswar: Terming Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's allegation of Odisha's neglect by the Centre as "baseless" and a ploy to hide his "inefficiency", Congress on Sunday demanded a white paper on central funds released to the state and their utilisation. "The Chief Minister is misleading people with wrong information on central funds to Odisha. This strategy is aimed at covering the BJD government's inefficiency," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Jayadev Jena told reporters in Bhubaneswar.
Accusing the BJD government of failing to properly utilise huge central funds, Jena said Patnaik's allegation about central neglect was not only baseless, but also misleading to divert people's attention from a series of scandals like chit fund and mining scams. Therefore, the state government must come out with a white paper on funds provided by the Centre and the state government's expenditure and utilisation , he demanded. The PCC chief alleged that due to inefficiency of the BJD government, around Rs 7,001.46 crore in 2009-10, Rs 6,423.15 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 8,439.58 crore in 2011-12 remained unspent in Odisha and returned to the Centre, which had provided the funds to the state under various central schemes.
Referring to a recent study on per capita grants from the Centre, Jena said though Odisha happened to be one of the top receivers of central funds, BJD government in the state had been accusing the Centre of neglect. BJD organised the 'Swabhiman Samabesh' in Delhi on June 12 just to hide its inefficiency in spending central funds, he alleged.
Demanding a CBI probe into alleged misutilisation of central funds by the BJD government, Congress on June 11 had staged a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan to highlight the UPA government's contribution to the development of the state and welfare of its people.
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