Cheema rejects Bittu's charges on state contribution to central schemes

Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema today rejected the allegations levelled by Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu against the state’s AAP government for not contributing its share of funds to the central government schemes.

During a media interaction here, Cheema said the state government was contributing to all central schemes. He claimed the BJP was misleading people by "telling lies".

“The Centre has only announced new rail lines, but no site plan has been prepared for the lines yet. I urge Bittu to avoid spreading wrong information and to disclose the layout plan shared by the central government with the state for the Rajpura-Chandigarh railway line project. The Punjab Government is ready to contribute to the central scheme for the progress and prosperity of the state,” he said.

Regarding the allegations levelled by Bittu regarding the misuse of central funds by the state government, he said the Union minister's comments showed his lack of knowledge. The Centre has prepared the SNA Sparsh system regarding the funds of the central and state governments. Under this system, the Centre directly deposits its share in the RBI account only after the state government contributes its share. Therefore, the SNA Sparsh system ensures real-time payments from the funds.

Cheema also said the first instalment of Rs 332 crore has been released for various developmental works to empower the panchayats to accelerate development at the grassroots level in rural areas, while the next instalment of Rs 334 crore will be released by the end of December or the first week of January.