Title - Rly 'neglect': Cong, BJD lock horns

BHUBANESWAR: The 'poor' allocation to Odisha in the railway budget sparked unpleasant scenes in the assembly on Thursday with opposition Congress legislators vociferously protesting against the ruling BJD members' display of placards to highlight the Centre's alleged neglect to the state.The treasury bench MLAs raised a banner of protest as soon as Speaker Pradip Amat allowed question hour following obituary references to former members.With the House resuming the budget session following a nine-day break, BJD MLAs did not lose any time to lodge a strong protest against the Congress-led UPA government by holding banners protesting the 'poor' allocation for Odisha in the railway budget for 2013-14.Normalcy returned after the Speaker urged the BJD members to cooperate with him to ensure smooth conduct of the question hour. However, during zero hour, the ruling party lawmakers again raised the issue with government deputy whip Sanjay Dasburma lambasting the Centre. Stating that the railway generated Rs 14,000 crore revenue from Odisha in 2012-13, but allocated only Rs 869 crore for rail infrastructure development in the state, Dasburma demanded a censure motion against the Union government. The state government had asked for Rs 3050 crore.

As the Speaker did not allow the censure motion, BJD members demonstrated in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue on the assembly premises. Leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh (Cong) demanded a special debate on railway budget and said the UPA government had been allocating more funds to Odisha compared to the previous NDA government of which the BJD was a part.