PATNA: Bihar’s ruling JD(U) on Monday urged the Centre to re-think about the Terms of References (ToR) of the
finance
commission and consider the demand of Special category status to both
Bihar and
Odisha.
“Janata Dal (U) supports the demand of Special Category status made by Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. We all know that Odisha has been a disaster-prone state, which faces natural calamities almost every year, causing massive loss to the
infrastructure
of the state. Now the time has come when we should re-think about necessary changes in the Terms of References (ToR) of the finance commission and consider the demand of Special category to both Bihar and Odisha,” JD(U) national secretary
general
and chief spokesperson K C Tyagi said.
He further said, Bihar and Odisha both have been demanding for special category status regularly. Bihar, after its division in 2000, was left with no natural resources and industries, causing heavy economic losses to the state. In this situation too, Bihar has topped the states in terms of GDP Growth with 11.3 %.
“Similar is the case of Odisha, where its growth rate is higher than that of the national average. Bihar has witnessed sustainable growth on all parameters during the regime of present leadership but the state funds and central assistance is not enough to pull Bihar from its chronic backwardness. Chief minister Nitish Kumar has continuously been demanding for this special category status to ensure the overall development of the state,” Tyagi said