Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, February 8: The Congress Legislature Party chief Mr Charanjit Singh Channi today slammed the SAD-BJP government in Punjab for its utter failure to avail of the central grants or fully utilize the allocations made to it under various schemes over the years. Moreover, it was the UPA led Congress government in Delhi that released maximum grants to Punjab. He called upon Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Badal to list even a single big ticket project for which Narendra Modi government has released financial assistance. All the false claims Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal very recently in Amritsar about the development projects in Punjab, which he claims to be in his pocket, have fallen apart by this RTI expose. Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal should accept the RTI facts or deny them as these are the figures given by different departments of Government Of India. Dr Jasdeepak Singh, RTI activist, provided the RTI information.
Substantiating his charge, Channi referred (RTI- 1) to the allocation of Rs 2445.54 lacs under the National Rural Livelihood Mission out of which only Rs 777.13 lac was realized as the state government failed to submit utilization certificate. Similarly (RTI- 2), an amount of 276.63 crore was released till 2014 for the construction and upgradation of kutcha houses of 150903 dwelling units for BPL households under Indira Awaas Yojana. However, the state government has not received a rupee since then following its failure to submit utilization report till 2014.
Channi also nailed the SAD BJP government, claiming under the swaran Jayanti shehri rozgar yojna and national urban livelihood mission (RTI- 3) the GOI gave 3898.91 lacs till 2013 but Punjab government could only give utilization of 1831.67 lacs thus the GOI was forced to stop the further release.
Mr Channi said most of these grants were for the weaker sections but it was the criminal inefficiency of the state government that is blocking the benefits to flow to these sections. He alleged both the Chief Minister Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal were focussed more on their other interests. They are just making false statements by claiming the projects in their kitty, which were actually approved and executed under UPA, led Congress Government for the state of Punjab.
Channi cited the case of central grant of Rs 99. 26 crore under JNNURM ( RTI- 4) , till 2014 and Rs 3.78 crore under Rajiv Awaaas Yojana till 2015 but the Punjab government failed to give the utilization report till date. While the GOI approved 230cr but gave only 99.26cr.
Channi pointed out that out of the central allocations (RTI-5) of Rs 56,825 lac till October, 2015, the state government could utilise only Rs 24,264.02 utilized by the state government. The state government again utilised only about 40 per cent grants from the sanction of Rs 113,650 lacs under urban infrastructure and governance. It was for this reason that solid waste management at Ludhiana, mass rapid transport system in Amritsar and sewerage in Amritsar south east zone are hanging in fire.
Mr Channi claimed that the Badal government received maximum allocation during UPA. Under the Swaranjayanti Gram Swarojgaar Yojna( RTI-6), Rs. 6286.89 lac was released under UPA govt from 2007 to 2013. The state received Rs 25453.95 lac ( RTI- 7) under the department of rural development GOI till 2014 under various welfare schemes.
Channi said while Sukhbir Singh Badal is making tall claims, grants amounting to Rs 16667 lac were sanctioned by the UPA government for the construction of elevated road to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the related structures (RTI -8).
