Bhubaneswar: Expressing disappointment over the Union Budget 2026-27 presented today, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the state has been largely ignored in terms of developmental allocations.
Taking to social media platform X, Patnaik said the people of Odisha had expected the “double engine” government to provide growth momentum, focusing on infrastructure, job creation, and additional allocations for the state. “The state has received very little,” he remarked.
While welcoming the proposal to establish a Rare Earth Corridor in Odisha, Patnaik emphasised that the state, as a leading producer of several key minerals, continues to contribute significantly to nation-building.
Patnaik also criticised the slow progress on long-standing projects, including the National Waterways, which were announced to connect mineral-rich areas and industrial hubs to ports, calling them a “decade-old proposal without any ground-level development.”
He expressed disappointment over Odisha’s exclusion from the announcement of seven High-Speed Rail corridors aimed at boosting regional growth. The BJD chief also recalled that the Odisha BJP had previously stalled the Bhubaneswar Metro project, stating that neglect of the people’s needs continues unabated.
Patnaik further pointed out that the Union Budget’s tourism-centric scheme for developing Buddhist circuits completely overlooked Odisha, despite the state housing several prominent Buddhist sites, including the famed Diamond Triangle.
“As seen from the entirety of the Union Budget, Odisha is getting allocations only for taking its natural resources away and completely ignored when it comes to resource allocation for benefit of people of the State,” Patnaik said.
He urged the state government to take responsibility and ensure that Odisha and its people receive their rightful share from the Centre. “The people of Odisha deserve more and better from the Union Budget,” he added.
