Union Budget 2026 has offered no noteworthy benefits to Odisha and its people: LoP Naveen Patnaik

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Bhubaneswar: The Union Budget 2026 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today has offered no noteworthy benefits to Odisha and its people, claimed state’s Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik.

Taking to his X handle, Patnaik expressed his disappointment on the Budget 2026 saying the budget has offered no noteworthy benefits to Odiha and its people.

“The anticipation from the people of Odisha was that the double engine government would offer a growth momentum with focus on infrastructure, job creation and additional allocation which is due to the state. The state has received very little,” he added.

He further said, “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.”

The former CM said that Union Budget has again been announced to have National Waterways to connect mineral rich areas and industrial centres to the Ports. But this is a decade old proposal without any progress on the ground.

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“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. Odisha BJP nipped the Bhubaneswar Metro project earlier and the neglect of people’s needs continues as usual,” Patnaik mentioned.

“And it’s quite baffling that the Tourism centric Scheme for Development of Buddhist Circuits has completely skipped Odisha despite having several very important Buddhist sites including our Diamond Triangle,” Naveen added.

“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,” the LoP said.

“It’s time the State BJP Govt takes responsibility for people of Odisha and ensure they get their rightful dues from centre. Odisha and its people deserve more and better from the Union Budget,” he demanded.

Also Read: Odisha CM applauds Union Budget 2026–27

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