RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Feb.21: Former union minister and senior BJP leader Jayant Sinha expressed his concern over the underutilization of funds in Jharkhand dubbing the Jharkhand Government as ‘Apar Dhan Ayogya Sarkar.’
Sinha, an MP from Hazaribagh parliamentary constituency and chairman of the finance committee of parliament, addressing a press conference shared his feeling saying that the state government pretends financial crisis to hide its inefficiency and corruption.
Presenting data Sinha, whose father Yashwant Sinha was union finance minister, said out of Rs 91277 crore budget size, Rs 40,000 crore has been provided to Jharkhand by the center. The amount, he said, is Rs 7000 crore more than fiscal 21.
Sinha said since January 2021 the state government has got Rs 6533 crore for its DMFT fund for the development of areas where mining activities are going on but it either has failed to spend it properly or failed to spend it in a transparent manner.
Sinha said that the financial planning of the government is poor and it’s reflected from its capital expenditure i.e expenditure for the development of infrastructure including roads, flyovers, bridges, cold storage besides that help multiply the economy by three times.
“While the neighbouring states have provided 20 percent of their budget for capital expenditure, the Jharkhand government has provided only 18 percent. Two percent is a big amount considering the budget size,” Sinha said.
He said the government failed to pay what is due to the power company, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), resulting into power crisis for more than two months in the DVC command area.
Sinha said that the state so far has not come out with any plan regarding the use of the union government’s plan of giving Rs one lakh crore interest-free loan for 50 years to the states.
Sinha said that the BJP will raise the issue in the forthcoming session of the assembly in Jharkhand playing its role of a responsible opposition.
