lambasting Chief Minister Harish Rawat for purportedly misinforming the public about the State’s condition, the Bharatiya Janata Party State head Ajay Bhatt averred that the credibility of the State Government had deteriorated to such a level that the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) had rejected the State’s application for Rs100 cr loan.
The Central Government has already made budgetary allocations to Uttarakhand where various Central schemes are underway while the State Government’s level of efficiency is such that barring Dehradun, the district plans for the remaining 12 districts could not be drafted by the designated last date of December 31, 2015 with past years’ unused funds amounting to Rs488 cr also remaining dumped in the absence of utilisation
certificate.
Addressing the media here on Tuesday, Bhatt said, “The State Government’s negative attitude towards developmental works has been exposed with the Chief Minister failing to even prepare district plans on time. About Rs488 crore left over from past years’ schemes has remained unused. The Centre had released four months’ budget on time but the State Government had been able to spend only 1.5 per cent of the budget by June 15 in previous financial year 2014-15 whereas more than 20 per cent of the current financial year’s had been spent till June this year under imposition of president’s rule. The CM is touting per capita income rise as its achievement whereas it is an indicator of developmental works undertaken on Central Government directions. The condition of the state is such that the OBC rejected Uttarakhand’s application for Rs100 crore loan which was to be used for purchasing new buses in the transport department,” said Bhatt.
Referring to the State’s demand for Central funds, Bhatt said that the Centre had already released Rs2070 crore for forest and private land transfer for the Rs11700 crore Char Dham Yatra highway project but the State Government has not yet started the procedure for land transfer. Apart from this, the corruption in State Government was further exposed when Rs126 crore was collected in penalties in mining activities during four months of president’s rule compared to Rs272 crore revenue from mining in 2015-16.” Dehradun mayor Vinod Chamoli, BJP State spokesman Munna Singh Chauhan and Devendra Bhasin were also among those present at the Press conference.