CM misleads people on job funds: BJP

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 15

Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister PKDhumal has accused Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of misleading people on funds released by the Centre under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) to hide his government’s failure.

The NDA government has sanctioned Rs 355.42 crore on February 5, 2015.

He said the Centre had sought an online completion report from states for 60 per cent of the work done under MGNREGA following reports of irregularities in implementation of the scheme in some states during the UPA regime.

The funds of the states which fail to submit the report were withheld and the labour was not being paid, he said. He alleged that instead of accepting the blame for not sending the completion reports on time, the Chief Minister was accusing the Centre of reducing the amount of the grant.

During the past nine months, the NDA government had sanctioned the stalled schemes such as setting up of AIIMS-like institutions and released the funds for border roads. Instead of expressing gratitude to the Prime Minister, Virbhadra Singh was criticising him which is not in larger interests of the state, he said.