STATE TIMES NEWS
JALANDHAR: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said here on Saturday that, non-BJP ruled State governments are not exercising accountability, whereas in BJP ruled States there is absolute accountability and answerability to the Central high command and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s welfare schemes are seriously followed up and accounted for.
Addressing BJP press conference during the campaign for Lok Sabha by-poll, Dr Jitendra Singh said that in the non-BJP States, not only do they allow the pilferage and wastage of Central funds, but the schemes are also not implemented seriously, and they do not hold themselves accountable.
Talking in the context of Punjab, the Union Minister said that every now and then, the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has been accusing the Central government of holding back funds for the State. However, the matter of fact is that the earlier grants obtained by the State government from the Centre were never utilised for the purpose for which they were meant.
The Central grants were used for their own priorities and now, for the release of further funds from the Centre, when the Utilisation Certificates (UCs) are being sought, they are unable to produce the same, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that many of the central grants instead of being used for developmental projects, are being used for self-publicity through advertisements in newspapers and other media and for organising extravagant programmes for publicity of the AAP leaders.
The Union Minister also expressed concern about growing lawlessness and state of anarchy in the State of Punjab and vowed that BJP party is committed to restore the ethos of brotherhood, nationalism and mutual harmony among the people in the State.
Talking about the Delhi government, the Union Minister said that nothing can be more unfortunate than the fact that in Delhi with the AAP running a government, nearly 3 or 4 Ministers are behind the bars facing CBI and ED charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had envisioned developing such an administrative ecosystem for a developed India, which has zero-tolerance for corruption but the AAP led government in the state of Punjab has been creating roadblocks towards creating such a corruption free ecosystem by delaying implementation of transformative reforms undertaken by the BJP led central government.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that it is in the interest of the people to benefit from the central funds which are very meticulously provided by the Modi government. Modi government has always followed the policy of cooperative federalism and has also increased the state government share of funds. This is quite in contrast to what was happening during the UPA run Central government where the Gujarat government led by BJP was always put to all kinds of intimidation and harassment by the then UPA led Central government and false CBI cases were filed which later could not be proved, the Minister said.
