Punjab Deputy Speaker's supporters favoured in grant disbursal, alleges BJP leader

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, June 7

BJP leader Nimisha Mehta on Wednesday levelled allegations of discrepancies in residential grants released by Deputy Speaker and Garhshankar MLA Jai Kishan Rori for the construction and repair of homes in the constituency.

Allegations false

I have issued grants worth Rs 18L across Punjab and the BJP leader can’t tolerate this. She is thus making false allegations. None of them is a blood relative of mine and there is no rule that needy acquaintances can’t be helped. Jai Kishan Rori, Dy Speaker

Mehta alleged that in violation of the rules for discretionary grants, money meant for the poor had instead been disbursed among the supporters of the Dy Speaker and undeserving beneficiaries who already had pucca houses or properties in the area.

She alleged that the list of beneficiaries who received the grants include the MLA’s PA Jagtar Singh Kitna’s brother and father, another beneficiary who has a property worth 4 acres in Garshankar and a woman whom she alleged was studying in Australia, among others.

Mehta made these claims citing a reply to an RTI query on the list of beneficiaries to whom the discretionary funds had been issued by the Dy Speaker for the year 2022-23.

In all, she named six beneficiaries and alleged there were more in the area. Each of these received grants worth Rs 50,000 each (total Rs 3 lakh), she said. Rules of the policy for the year 2022-2023 for the issue of discretionary grants (cited by Mehta) stipulate that as per Sections 13 (C) i of the policy, the beneficiary should be a BPL card holder or a beneficiary of the atta dal scheme and as per sections 13 (C) ii, the beneficiary should not have incurred the benefits of the PM Awas Yojna.

Mehta sought his and also appealed to the AAP to order a Vigilance probe. Terming the allegations baseless, Rori said these were all needy families.

Speaking to The Tribune, he said, “Jagtar Singh Kitna isn’t a PA of mine. He works in my tractor agency on a salary of Rs 10,000 and his father is blind. Jaspreet Kaur is a kidney patient with a serious health problem whose treatment is on at PGI Chandigarh and there are leakages in her house.

“There is no rule that non-BPL families can’t be helped. These are people who are needy and require the money. I have issued grants worth Rs 18 lakh across Punjab and the BJP leader can’t tolerate this. She is thus making false allegations. None of these people are any blood relatives of mine and there is no rule that needy acquaintances can’t be helped.”

Jaspreet Kaur, when contacted, said she didn’t study in Australia, was a kidney patient and pursuing agri-diploma at a college in Nawanshahr.