Dikhyaa Mohanty Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday expressed concern over the drastic reduction of funds under MGNREGA and food security allocations in the Union Budget, besides welcoming some of the “good aspects” of it.
“The budget has some good aspects which need to be appreciated and there are some concerns which required to be looked into and addressed,” he said in a statement.
Noting that he was concerned over the drastic reduction of funds for MGNREGS, Patnaik said: “This will hit the poor people.” The Odisha chief minister also said that the reduction in the food security budget along with a reduction in procurement will hit the poor people as well as farmers.
“About Rs 80,000 crore was spent on procurement in 2021-22 while only about Rs 60,000 crore is kept in this budget. This will cause serious problems in selling crops at minimum support price,” Patnaik pointed out.
