Centre’s letter substantiates my claims: Sidhu

AMRITSAR: Substantiating his claims over diversion of Central grants meant for various development schemes in the state, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today released a letter to the media of Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu addressed to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 17

Substantiating his claims over diversion of Central grants meant for various development schemes in the state, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today released a letter to the media of Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu addressed to Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.

In the letter, Naidu drew the attention of the Chief Minister towards the ‘key’ issues in the implementation of various projects in the state. He pointed out around five issues which should be addressed at the state level.

Sidhu had accused former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Badal (former deputy chief minister) of leaving the state in such a position that it could not run projects such as Smart City, Swachh Bharat, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).

SAD leaders had alleged that Sidhu was telling a lie, asking him to seek details from the Finance Department about the grants received from the Centre.

Naidu stated in the letter that during the review meeting, the major issue came about the delay in the release of Central as well as state share of funds to the urban local bodies. Another issue was shortage of professional staff at the city and the state level.

The Union minister said in the Smart City Mission, though Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) was formed and project management consultants were appointed, no project was tendered so far. Similarly, in AMRUT mission, there was long delay in the preparation of the detailed project report, tendering and start of works.

“I believe these issues cane be addressed by the state governmentin implementation of these important missions and achieve significant improvement in the areas of water supply, sanitation, waste management and critical urban structure,” he said while urging the CM to review the progress at his own level.

Sidhu said this letter proved that the Badals had diverted the funds released for these missions.