BJP, BJD MPs from Orissa walk out of LS

New Delhi, Aug 18 (UNI) BJD and BJP members from Orissa today staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha in protest against the ''injustice'' meted out to the state in the matter of funds allocation even as Minister of State for Planning M V Rajashekharan assured the House that there ''would not be any discrimination''.

Among those who walked out of the House were former Water Resources Minister Arjuncharan Sethi (BJD) and the MPs who had raised the issue -- Braja Kishore Tripathy, Prasanna Acharya and Bhartruhari Mahtab (all BJD) and Bikram Keshari Deo (BJP) -- in the form of a motion calling the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who holds the Planning portfolio.

Mr Sethi wanted the Prime Minister to visit the Kalahandi- Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) region, the most backward area in the country, to assess the pathetic level of poverty and decide the Central assistance needed for the development of the region.

The calling attention related to the situation arising out of the proposed discontinuation of Revised Long Term Action Plan for the KBK region and steps taken by the government in this regard.

Mr Rajashekharan said the Prime Minister had taken all the initiatives to deal with the backwardness of Orissa and pointed out that 19 of the 30 districts in the state had been covered under the development programmes of the Centre -- eight under the KBK programme and 11 under the Backward Regions Grant Fund.

A total of Rs 250 crore was being released every year for the KBK region and this ''would be protected under the Eleventh Plan (2007-11).'' He further assured the House that there would be no change in the special assistance for the KBK districts.

On the members' demand for a visit by the Prime Minister to the KBK region, the Minister said he had spent three-four days in the backward districts and given his assessment to Dr Singh. ''Orissa is getting all the funds,'' he said and sought to dispell the impression that the assistance was getting reduced.

Providing figures to drive home his contention, he said a sum of Rs 225 crore was released for KBK in 2003-04 against an expenditure of Rs 318 crore, followed by a release of Rs 275 crore in 2004-05 (Rs 279.11 crore expenditure) and Rs 250 crore in 2005-06. For the current fiscal (2006-07), Rs 83.33 crore has been released so far.

The Orissa MPs, however, wanted doubling of the Central assistance to KBK to Rs 500 crore a year in view of the abysmally low Human Development Index (HDI) and a less than 2 per cent literacy level in the eight districts which had the highest percentage of ST/SC population in the country.

The Minister's statement was ''evasive and inconclusive,'' they maintained.

Mr Rajashekharan said the Padampur sub-division of Bargarh district could not be included as it did not form part of the original KBK districts. Further, its inclusion would result in spreading of scarce resources too thinly over a large area.

''The government is seized of the need to pay speial attention to the KBK districts,'' he said.

UNI SN VA KP1336