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The Odisha government's demand before the Centre to accord it "special category state" status is under the active consideration of the Planning Commission.
This has been revealed by Union minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning, Rajeev Shukla in response to a question by Rajya Sabha member Renubala Pradhan. The minister said, the Centre is aware of the Odisha government's demand in this regard.
"National Development Council (NDC) is the sole body to accord special category status to a state based on an integrated consideration of set of criteria", the Union minister told Pradhan in a reply.
At present, 11 states enjoy this status. These are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
Shukla said, the Center is providing funds to these states under Central Assistance to State Plan and Centrally Sponsored Scheme. In the last fiscal (upto March 11, 2013), the states were provided- Arunachal Pradesh (Rs 3389.20 crore), Assam (Rs 10105.96 crore), Himachal Pradesh (Rs 5028.19 crore), Jammu and Kashmir (Rs 11068.77-crore), Manipur (Rs 3519.52 crore), Meghalaya (Rs 2345.52 crore), Mizoram (Rs 2625.06-crore), Nagaland (Rs 3070.40 crore), Sikkim (Rs 1501.51 crore), Tripura (Rs 3777.51 crore) and Uttarakhand (Rs 4035.11 crore).
Reacting to the Union minister's reply, the BJD Rajya Sabha MP, Pradhan said, the Center was deliberately ignoring Odisha's long-standing demand for special category status and more financial assistance.
"Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been demanding this since 2001. He has raised the issue in different forums including the NDC meetings, Finance Commission and memorandum submitted to the Planning Commission and Prime Ministers. But the Centre is completely deaf to the demands though Odisha fulfilled almost all criteria to get this tag", she said.
Odisha state assembly has recently adopted a unanimous resolution in this regard. The ruling regional outfit BJD's youth wing also staged a protest rally at Bhubaneswar on the same issue.
The state assembly had earlier adopted similar resolutions on March 5, 1991 and November 18, 1997 urging the Centre to give it special category status.
