The Congress on Monday said the BJP has steadily reduced Odisha's central funding in recent years and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "neglecting" the people of the state.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in Odisha.

"Why has Odisha's central funding steadily decreased? Will the PM commit to legal status for the SC-ST sub-plan? Will the Sitalapalli wagon factory ever be completed?" Ramesh said in a post on X.

Elaborating on what he said were "jumla details", Ramesh alleged that Odisha has suffered "gross neglect" at the hands of the Modi government.

"In their usual style, the BJP has steadily reduced Odisha's Central funding in recent years. According to CAG reports, Central transfers as percentage of Revenue Receipts have been consistently decreasing from 57 per cent in 2017-18 to 38 per cent in 2021-22," he said.

Similarly, the CAG noted that the state's share of Union taxes, as a percentage of revenue receipts of the state, has been continuously decreasing from 2018-19 to 2021-22, Ramesh said.

"Grants under recommendation of the Fifteenth Finance Commission have also decreased recently. What happened to the PM's favourite slogan - Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas? Why is the PM neglecting the people of Odisha?" the Congress leader said.

Ramesh said the BJP has had an incredibly poor record when it comes to tribal welfare.

"The BJP has overseen a consistent rise in crimes against Adivasi persons according to latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The crime rate has increased from 21.6% in 2018 to 28.6% in 2022," he said.

The BJP's allocation for Adivasis in the Central Budget has also consistently fallen short of the 8.2% target set by the NITI Aayog in 2017, he pointed out.

Why have the PM and the BJP ignored India's Adivasi communities, Ramesh asked.

He said the Congress Party has guaranteed a legal status to the SC-ST sub-plan, which would require the central government to meet this 8.2% budget target.

Can the PM commit to the same, he asked.

Ramesh further said the Sitalapalli rail wagon factory has been in cold storage ever since it was sanctioned by the UPA government in 2013.

"The NDA government undertook zero work on this project, and then finally dropped it in 2018. When the current Railway Minister, a Rajya Sabha Member from Odisha, took office, he promised to take the project up again," he said.

"In September 2021, an official of the East Coast Railway said that the project would be implemented on a PPP model. Till date, however, there has been no progress in this much-awaited project," Ramesh said.

Two other projects - Gopalpur-Rayagada Railway Line and Rairakhole-Gopalpur Railway Line - have also suffered the same fate, he said.

Why has the BJP deceived the people in Odisha? How much longer must they wait for the Sitalapalli wagon factory?" Ramesh said and asked the prime minister to break his "silence" on these issues.

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