Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday said that over 12,000 suggestions have been received and efforts will made in the budget to reflect the aspirations of the people.
Briefing the media after a pre-budget consultation meeting for the Annual Budget 2024-25 at Lok Seva Bhawan, the CM, who holds the Finance portfolio, said that the state budget will be tabled in the Assembly on July 25.
“As a people’s government, we have been giving importance to the opinions of the people since the beginning. And accordingly feedback were sought. And I am happy to announce that we have received over 12,000 suggestions through online and WhatsApp, which is six time more than the previous years,” he said, adding that such wide participation of the people in the budget preparation process is very encouraging.
He further stated that the meeting was attended over 150 people from civil societies, experts in the field and representatives of various sectors. “We have received 26 valuable suggestions in writing from them and will try to incorporate those in the budget,” he said.
Majhi added that the people’s budget will help in building new Odisha.
Former finance ministers Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, Panchanan Kanungo and Shashi Bhusan Behera, former finance secretaries, Regional Director of RBI, General Manager of NABARD and about 26 prominent people from various fields shared their views at the meeting, which was also attended by Deputy CMs – KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Saswat Mishra and senior officials of the department.
Besides budget 2024-25, the CM will also place the vote on account for three months The previous BJD government had presented vote on account of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the first four months of the 2024-25 fiscal on February 8. The second vote-on-account will be effective till September 30.
Several new schemes, including Subhadra Yojana, will be reflected in the budget.
