The Hindu : New Delhi News : An eyewash, says Bidhuri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 17, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

An eyewash, says Bidhuri

Staff Reporter

"People taken for a ride by false claims"

NEW DELHI: Accusing the Delhi Government of taking people, particularly housewives, for a ride, Nationalist Congress Party MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri on Thursday said the promised reduction in the prices of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders had not materialised so far exposing the false claims of the Government. "The Government has failed to allocate funds for important sectors including the welfare of the poor, minorities and Scheduled Castes," he added.

Speaking during the debate on the budget in the Delhi Assembly, Mr. Bidhuri said despite a cut in Value Added Tax (VAT) from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent, the price of LPG cylinder had not come down by even a single paisa. The oil companies and dealers have refused to pass on the cut to the consumers exposing the tall claims that the budget had come as a blessing for housewives. "This also indicates the will of the Government and puts a big question mark over its authority to implement policy announcements," he remarked.

Lashing out at the Delhi Government for making a mockery of the budget, Mr. Bidhuri said there was little or nothing for the nearly 70 per cent of the population living in the Capital's slum clusters and unauthorised colonies. He said in the first place inadequate allocation was made for the welfare of Harijan colonies, villages, slum clusters, and unauthorised colonies. But what was most surprising was that this meagre amount was also left unspent which lapsed indicating the working of the Government and its concern for the poor. He said not a single paisa had been provided for rehabilitation of the rehri, partri and khomcha owners who now stand displaced in view of the Supreme Court orders.

Taking the Government to task for its failure to implement the Yamuna action plan, Mr. Bidhuri said despite a provision of hundreds of crores, the Delhi Government had failed to spend nearly 85 per cent of the funds for rehabilitation of slum clusters on the banks of the Yamuna and the various polluting nullahs and discharge untreated water into Yamuna. He said around 32 per cent of the MLAs Constituency Development Fund had been actually spent on the ground which was far below the expectations and needed to be speeded up.

Anil Bhardwaj (Congress) said the budget was an endorsement of the policies and programmes propagated by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He said the welfare of the poor, minorities and backward classes was uppermost in the mind of the Congress Government and the very fact that Ms. Gandhi had rushed to Varanasi after the serial blasts indicated her commitment to communal harmony and keeping intact the secular fabric of the country.

Mr. Bhardwaj also stressed the need to constitute Sports Council of Delhi for giving further impetus to sports in the Capital.

Subhash Chopra (Cong.) termed the allocation of Rs. 5,000 for the girl child as an incentive to her studies as inadequate and said such incentives should be provided for higher education of the girl child.

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