Bhubaneswar, Feb 1 (IANS) Odisha’s Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President, Naveen Patnaik, expressed his displeasure over the Union Budget for 2026–27 presented in Parliament on Sunday, alleging that the budget offered “no noteworthy benefits” to Odisha and its people.

Taking to his official X account, the former Chief Minister said, “I express my disappointment on the #Budget2026 presented today by the Union government. The budget has offered no noteworthy benefits to #Odisha and its people.”

Patnaik also noted that the people of Odisha were expecting that the double-engine government would offer growth momentum with a focus on infrastructure, job creation, and the additional allocation due to the state.

He alleged that, contrary to high anticipation by the people, the state has received very little from the Union Budget.

However, the BJD supremo welcomed the proposal for the establishment of the Rare Earth Corridor in Odisha, along with Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, announced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her budget presentation on Sunday.

“I welcome the proposal to establish the Rare Earth Corridor in Odisha. Odisha is the leading producer of several key minerals and will always contribute to nation building through its rich resources,” Patnaik said.

The former Chief Minister also underscored that the Union government has once again announced the operationalisation of National Waterways-5 to connect mineral-rich areas and industrial centres to the ports.

He alleged that despite being a decade-old proposal, it has yet to see any progress on the ground.

Targeting the Union government, the BJD President noted, “It is a huge disappointment for the people of Odisha that the announcement to develop seven High-Speed Rail corridors between cities as ‘growth connectors’ does not feature Odisha. The Odisha BJP nipped the #BhubaneswarMetro project earlier and the neglect of people’s needs continues as usual.”

He also criticised the Union government for completely ignoring Odisha, despite the state having several important Buddhist sites, in the tourism-centric scheme announced in the Budget for the development of Buddhist circuits.

“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. It’s time the BJP-led state government takes responsibility for people of Odisha and ensure they get their rightful dues from the Centre. Odisha and its people deserve more and better from the Union Budget,” Patnaik alleged.

–IANS

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