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Khurana alleges bungling in mid-day meal scheme

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI SEPT. 4. The defamation suit filed against him by the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, notwithstanding, the Delhi BJP president, Madan Lal Khurana, today continued his tirade against her government accusing the Congress-led regime of indulging in corruption in the mid-day meal assistance received from the Centre.

Addressing a gathering at Jalebi Wala Chowk in North West Delhi on the 12th day of his Parivartan Yatra, Mr Khurana asserted that while the Centre was providing food grains to be made available to the poor at cheap rates, the Delhi Government had never allowed these cereals to reach the targeted sections and was indulging in their sale in the black market.

Mr Khurana also posed five questions to the Chief Minister at the rally. He said was it not a fact that the Delhi Government conducted no survey to identify the people living below the poverty line as a result of which lakhs of poor families were deprived of cheap foodgrains under the Antyodaya scheme of the Centre.

Presenting his assertions in the form of questions, Mr Khurana said the Union Government under its Food for All Scheme had given cheap foodgrains to the Delhi Government to be made available to the poor at highly subsidised rates of Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice. However, he alleged, that these grains were being sold in the black market.

Also, the BJP leader said lakhs of families were deprived of the benefits of the scheme as their below poverty line (BPL) ration cards were not made. Further, he said, a lot of irregularities existed in the matter of making of these BPL cards with the poor being made to pay money to get them.

Charging the Congress government of deceiving the people of Delhi, he said in order to cover up its tracks, the party was now holding loan "melas" (camps) to appease the masses. "Why were these melas not held during the last five years?" he demanded to know.

Mr Khurana said the Congress leadership was disturbed by the response his Parivartan Yatra had generated and the guidelines issued by the Centre with respect to the Master Plan 2021 for solving the problems of Delhi.

Of the view that the Congress leaders were not resorting to making irrelevant and absurd statements and laying fictitious foundation stones and issuing advertisements worth crores of rupees for taking the focus away from the main issues, he claimed the people of Delhi were nevertheless fully aware of the "anti-people, corrupt and deceitful policies" of the party.

The Union Labour Minister and Member of Parliament from Outer Delhi, Sahib Singh Verma, also addressed the meeting meant to cover Mangolpuri and Sultanpuri areas. He insisted that the overwhelming support for the Parivartan Yatra was proof enough that the reverse counting of the Congress government in Delhi had begun.

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