Pradhan slams Odisha CM for objecting to 15th Finance Commission

Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Apr. 15 (ANI): Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday lashed out at Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik after he raised objection over the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the 15th Finance Commission.

Talking to ANI, Pradhan accused the Chief Minister of playing politics for his personal gain and said that matter of "public welfare" should not be politicised.

"The Chief Minister is playing politics. Odisha will reap maximum benefit from the implementation of the 15th planning commission. The Centre's aim is to provide water, electricity in every village. I do not know why the Odisha government is raising an objection on this," Pradhan said.

Patnaik, recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the TOR Finance Commission will have an adverse impact on Odisha and other states.

He also alleged that the 15th Finance Commission and its TOR constituted by Presidential order dated 27 November 2017 overlooked Odisha's suggestions.

The 15th Finance Commission, which was set-up in November 2017, had said that it will use data from the 2011 census while making recommendations for the five-year period, which begins in 2020.

However, most of the southern states, want the recommendations to be based on the 1971 census data. (ANI)