Come clean on utilisation of grants: Bhattal to state govt
Wednesday, 20/11/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20131120/punjab.htm#12
Barnala : Former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal today asked the Punjab Government to issue a white paper with regard to Central grants received by it in the past over six years, before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. She said it should be made public so that people knew where the Central and the state funds had been utilised.
Bhattal said either the SAD-BJP government should prove their accusation that the UPA Government had adopted a discriminatory approach against the state or it should tender an apology to people for levelling a false allegation on the Centre. She claimed all the development and welfare works in the state were being done with the Central funds but the state government was terming them as their own works.
Bhattal was here today to attend a function at the house of a veteran party worker.
She said on the one hand, the SAD-BJP government was making tall claims about development in the state and on the other hand, it often kept its treasuries closed, denying payments to government departments and its employees. She said the government should clarify its actual financial position to people of the state.
She also lashed out at the SAD-BJP government for not giving right of distribution of grants to the elected MLAs of the opposition party.
Bhattal said the state government had been compelling industrialists to shift their industries to other states by imposing heavy taxes on them. She said the number of industrialists who had shifted to other states during the militancy period was less than that during the regime of the SAD-BJP government.
Transparency sought
Former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal has sought white paper with regard to Central grants received by the state in the past over six years. She said this paper should be made public before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections
