Bhubaneswar, June 13: Union minister of state for external affairs Gen. (Retd.) V.K. Singh today virtually rejected the state's demand for special category status and said that it was not necessary, as the Centre had been providing adequate funds to the states.

Singh, who was in the city to take part in programmes relating to the completion of the Narendra Modi government's three years in office, accused the state government of not being able to achieve the desired level of development.

"The revenue share of the states has been increased to 60 per cent from 32 per cent. Every state is being benefited from various welfare schemes of the Union government. The states are getting required assistance from the central government, so why the demand for special category status?" asked the minister.

He accused the state government of not being able to take the state forward. "The state has been getting more central assistance but it is yet to make any significant progress in on the development front. The present government, which has been in power for the past 17 years, is solely responsible for this," the minister said.

On Monday, BJD spokesperson Prashant Nanda had accused the BJP of overlooking its promise of according special category status to Odisha in its 2014 election manifesto.

"The BJP government has forgotten its promise. The budget of as many as 33 schemes in the state has been reduced while eight schemes have been de-linked from central support," Nanda said.

Singh also said passport services would be available at all head post offices across the country in the next two years. "Passport offices will be set up at 800 head post offices with 150 to be set up in the first phase. This will enable citizens to get passports in their home districts," said Singh.

The minister also replied to questions about the possible extradition of liquor baron Vijay Mallya from the UK. "We cannot fix a particular time frame for bringing Mallya back to the country as it depends on the UK. We will bring him back after the law of that country permits us to do so," the minister said.

On the other hand, senior Congress leader Anil Shastri accused the Union government for failing in every aspect of governance.

"The BJP government's decision of demonetisation was a complete blunder and the government is give details of black money and fake currency discovered after the move," he alleged.

Shastri, a member of the Congress Working Committee, also criticised the Centre for failing to create adequate job opportunities for youths.

"The economy has slowed down, which has led to job losses in every sector. Several flagship programmes of the Centre such as Clean Ganga Mission have failed miserably," said Shastri.