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“Most of the planning and programmes elaborated in the budget don’t have any financial provisions. That’s the worst part. There are no special benefit schemes for SCs and STs, or for the weaker sections of society. For women’s empowerment, they have done nothing beyond direct benefit schemes. For employment generation in the state, nothing new has come in,” Mishra alleged.
The Opposition Indian National Congress also criticised the 2026–27 budget, raising concerns over the rising loan burden and what it described as the government’s failure to fully utilise funds allocated in the current financial year.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said the government could not claim credit for expanding the size of the budget when it had spent only 57 per cent of its total expenditure in the first 10 months of the ongoing financial year.
“You can’t increase the size of an empty budget. A government that has spent only 57 per cent of its total expenditure in the first 10 months cannot be proud of allocating over Rs 20,000 crore in the upcoming financial year. A budget as big as an elephant, but spending like a mosquito,” he said.
Labelling the government inept and the 2026–27 budget disappointing, Das also questioned whether citizens were secure under an administration that, he alleged, had increased the state’s debt to Rs 91,000 crore in just two budgets.
The criticism from both the BJD and the Congress sets the stage for a heated debate in the assembly over the state’s fiscal priorities, spending efficiency and commitments to employment and social welfare.
With IANS inputs