Chandigarh, January 18: Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s Local Bodies Department came under fire from Congress MLAs representing urban areas at the Chief Minister’s pre-budget consultation meeting with legislators from the Malwa region.
Initiating the debate against the department in absence of the minister, MLAs from Ludhiana along with MP Ravneet Bittu pointed out that despite the government sanctioning Rs 66 crore for works in the city, funds were not being released. They also complained about the use of funds under the smarty city project for paying salary to the staff sans any work.
On being asked to explain by the CM, A Venu Parsad, Principal Secretary (Local Bodies), said the payment was not being released on the basis of instructions against single tender works. Capt Amarinder directed his Chief Principal Secretary to sort out the issue at the earliest.
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Similarly, MLAs representing the rural areas minced no words in pointing out to the Chief Minister that it was high time that development works for the sanctioned projects be started ahead of the Lok Sabha Polls.
In another matter, the legislators, led by Ghanour MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur, protested against advisers in various departments, alleging that they were sitting on technical clearances, thus delaying the projects. It was pointed that the advisers should only advice and not sit on sanctions.
An MLA from Patiala region spoke categorically about corruption in the Revenue Department. Health Minister Brahm Mohindra spoke on the need to bring rural doctors under the Health Department to improve services in the rural areas.
He urged the Chief Minister to merge 750 doctors serving in the Rural Development and Panchayats Department with the Health Department, which would ultimately help tide over the situation of shortage of doctors in the state to a considerable extent.
Except for the headline, the story has been sourced from The Tribune
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