Naveen reiterates demand for special category status to Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reiterated the demand for special category status meeting with NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar here on Saturday.

The Chief Minister also demanded coal royalty revision, which has not been revised since April 2012. The coal royalty should be revised in every three years.

He also demanded to change the fund sharing pattern of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

He said the fund sharing pattern should be changed from 75:25 to 90:10 between the Centre and state respectively.

Patnaik urged more Central assistance for schemes in backward districts.

The Centre should initiate funding for the special plan for KBK districts, Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) and Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Left Wing Extremists (LWE) affected districts.

The Centre has stopped funding for these plans.