The leader of Congress legislative Party (ClP) in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sunil Jakhar on Thursday blamed the SAD-BJP alliance Government for its failure to use Central funds meant for the State farmers.
He regretted that the SAD-BJP led State Government had not been able to fully utilise the Central financial assistance for crop diversification due to negligence of Agriculture department. “A perusal of the report released by Central Government on August 14 clearly indicates that Punjab Agriculture Department submitted utilisation report for Rs161.07 crore whereas the total allocation was Rs445 crore out of which Rs224 crore had been released as first installment,” pointed Jakhar.
He said the SAD BJP Government had been criticising the former UPA Government for lack of financial assistance to the agricultural sector which suffered a lot due to the wheat-cotton-paddy circle. “It should be inquired by an independent agency how the Central funds amounting Rs1,500 crore were utilised since 2007,” demanded Jakhar.
He said: “Millions of farmers were deprived of the benefits that the Central Government sought to offer them through different welfare schemes. The wrong policies being pursued by the State had resulted in 25 per cent fall in cotton and paddy prices, this gives farmers a big jolt.”
Jakhar said that delay in submitting utilisation certificates against funds received from New Delhi under other schemes put the State Government under scanner.