Bhubaneswar, June 2: The row over rice quota to Odisha seems to continue despite the Centre announcing an increase in the quota for the state on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state today.

Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan had told the media that the allocation of rice and wheat had been revised with effect from May and had quoted a letter from Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan to this effect.

Today, Pradhan mentioned the Centre's decision at the Prime Minister's meeting in Balasore and said how sympathetic the Union government was to Odisha's cause. He said the state would get more rice now as compared to what it used to through the public distribution system during the UPA regime. However, the state's food supplies minister Sanjay Das Burma countered that the state had not received any letter to this effect.

Allocation of rice has been a political issue in the state with the BJD accusing the Centre of dumping wheat in the rice-consuming state.

Service tax protest

The Odisha government protested the hike in service tax following imposition of Krishi Kalyan cess with effect from June 1 and demanded its roll back. "The central government, by using their taxation powers, have imposed cess and surcharge to finance their share of the centrally-sponsored schemes while denying the same benefit to the states," said finance minister Pradip Amat in a letter to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley.

At a news conference, Amat and industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra said the state would lose Rs 320 crore a year on this account.

"This is another instance of the Modi government's apathy towards the state," Amat said.