Cong raps PM’s absence during GST debate
New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of committing contempt of Parliament by not being present in either the Rajya Sabha or the lok Sabha during the passage of the GST Bill. “It is a matter of lament that the PM could not spare even five minutes to be present during the passage of the legislation which he had labelled as one of the most progressive and revolutionary. The PM was not on a foreign tour. He was sitting in his office in Parliament. It is a contempt of Parliament,” party spokesman Jairam Ramesh told reporters.
pmgsy: Over 4 lakh km roads constructed
New Delhi: More than 4.81 lakh km of roads connecting 1.192 lakh habitations across the country were constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) till June 30, MoS for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav informed the lok Sabha on Thursday. Since the inception (of the scheme), the Ministry has released Rs 1.39 lakh crore and States have reported expenditure of Rs 1.5 lakh crore till June 30, he said.
Rs 9cr spent on pm’s programmes abroad
New Delhi: Over 70 per cent of the nearly Rs 9 crore spent by Indian diplomatic missions for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public and community programmes have been spent on event management during his visits to 51 countries since he assumed office. Nearly Rs 6.4 crore were spent out of about Rs 8.8 crore on the event management with the highest, Rs 2 crore, being spent during his visit to France in 2015, the Rajya Sabha was informed by MoS for External Affairs VK Singh.