Naveen Patnaik questions expenditure, voices concern over Odisha's development

Bhubaneswar, Dec 8 Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Odisha Assembly Naveen Patnaik on Monday targeted the state government, alleging that it has failed to spend the money allocated in the budget for the people of Odisha and for the state's development.

Speaking to media persons at the assembly, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president said: "I am sad to say that there is no expenditure being made by the State Government for the people of this state and for their development. This is a very sad thing to report. Time and again this has been brought to the attention of the state Government that there must be some expenditure for the development of the people of the state, but they seem to be totally neglectful about this."

He further alleged that every section of the society in the state is suffering for the policies of the state government.

"Everyone is suffering. It's not exclusive to any people, it is everyone that is suffering. It's like they're playing on empty vessels, and we all know that empty vessels make a good sound, and that's what they're satisfied by," Patnaik further targeted.

Earlier, the LoP took a dig at the state government while participating in the discussions on the appropriation bill tabled by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who also holds the finance portfolio, in the house on Monday.

Earlier, CM Majhi presented a Rs 17,440 crore supplementary budget for the 2025-26 financial year (FY-26) in the Assembly to support ongoing schemes in food security, health, education and urban infrastructure on November 28.

During the discussions on the appropriation bill, the opposition leader in the house on Monday also slammed the state government for failing to spend the funds allocated for each of the departments in the annual budget in the current financial year.

The state government has recently revealed in the assembly that it has so far spent only 39 per cent of the total budget allocation by the end of October.

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