Jairam writes to Modi, gives `100cr
Lok Sabha Meira Kumar participates in a discussion on “Parliaments and People
Immediately after he was praised for development of the state in The Time magazine, the Centre allocated an additional `100 crores to the Gujarat chief minister, Mr Narendra Modi, for successfully implementing schemes under National Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation (NRDWP) programme.
Of the eight states supposed to have successfully implemented the UPA’s flagship programme on drinking water and sanitation, Gujarat figures prominently for having spent more than 60 per cent of `423.04 crores allocated to the state in 2011-12.
The minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh, in a letter to Mr Modi stated that he was “pleased to inform that an additional allocation and release of `100 crores has been made to your state under NRDWP for 2011-12.” Gujarat along with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Punjab Tripura, Haryana and Tamil Nadu “have utilised more than 60 per cent of the available funds under NRDWP,” Mr Ramesh told the Gujrat chief minister in a letter.
Gujrat will go to the polls later this year. The ministry also appears to have acknowledged the fact, that rural drinking water and sanitation fail to get due attention from most of the states.
Only Gujrat, Tamil Nadu and Assam, among the big states, could spend more than 60 per cent of their allocated funds under the Centrally sponsored scheme.
Assam was allocated `443.93 crores, which has got an additional `100 crores, while Tamil Nadu had got `273.84 crores along with fresh allocation of `98.20 crores. The Centre is looking forward to give top priority to rural drinking water and sanitation, after the Union Budget enhanced the allocation to `14,000 crores for 2012-13 from last year. The Census in its recent report had stated that 65 per cent of India’s population does not have access to sanitation.
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