By Our Correspondent in Bhubaneswar, February 28 :

Odisha seems to have lost the race for getting special attention from the Narendra Modi led NDA government at Delhi with the finance minister, Arun Jaitley completely ignoring the state’s case for special assistance.

Besides, even as the state is endowed with rich cultural heritage and relics, none of the sites found mention among the 25 historic sites identified in the budget as international historic sites.

The neglect of the state in the Union Budget prompted Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to lash out at the Union Budget 2015-16.

“As regards Odisha, I’m deeply disappointed both with the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission and the Union Budget. No central allocation for Nabakalebar 2015 has been made in the Budget even though there has been a flow of resources for improvement of facilities in nine other heritage sites in the country”, Patnaik said in his reaction to the Budget.

The chief minister also lashed out at the Budget for denying Odisha special assistance on the lines of Bihar and West Bengal.

“While the Budget indicates a focus on rapid development of eastern states and special assistance have been declared for Bihar and West Bengal, Odisha has been completely neglected. Our state faced two of the worst calamities in the last two years consecutively in the form of Phailin and Hud Hud. At least on this score, Odisha deserved special focus. I am shocked that this fact has been completely overlooked in the Union Budget in spite of our repeated demands,” he pointed out

Patnaik also expressed concern over the possible decline in state’s revenue.

“Our share in tax devolution will come down from 4.78 per cent to 4.6 per cent. This will involve a loss of around Rs 4,600 crore over a period of five years. This is because of the inclusion of new criteria such as demographic changes that covers population as per 2011 Census and deletion of the criteria of fiscal discipline”, he said.

The chief minister remarked that Odisha was being penalised because of its good performance in fiscal discipline and population stabilisation initiatives.

The chief minister said that the net positive impact to the state will be minimal after the increase from 32 per cent to 42 per cent in case of central taxes, Patnaik stated.

“The state’s share in central taxes in 2014-15 is less than the Budget estimate of 2014-15 by Rs 2136 crore. In 2015-16, it is far less than the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission by about Rs 2,590 crore”, he added.