GULBARGA: Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh on Wednesday charged the State Government with denying information on development works.

Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Dharam Singh said secretaries of various departments and the chief secretary had not replied to his letters seeking details on expenditure incurred on development works and utilisation of funds released by the Centre.

He said the Government appeared to have issued a gag order to officials, and he had taken up the matter with Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Accusing the Government of failing to utilise the funds released by the Centre for providing relief to flood and drought-hit farmers, Mr. Dharam Singh said the Government should come out with a White Paper providing details such as funds released by the Centre for development and relief works.

He wondered how the Government would achieve cent per cent utilisation of budgetary allocations in the remaining three months. If the "indifferent" attitude of officials in meeting financial and physical targets continued, the Government would not be in a position to reach the plan targets and there would be a huge cut in the plan size of the current year.

He said the Centre had sanctioned Rs. 250 crore and released Rs. 150 crore for tackling drought and providing relief to the people affected by floods, but the State Government had spent only Rs. 39 crore. Instead of blaming the Centre for not releasing funds, the State Government should utilise the available funds and seek additional funds. Under the horticulture mission, Rs. 133 crore was available, but the Government had spent only Rs. 31 crore, he added.

He said the Congress had decided to raise the issues confronting the State, including the confusion over contradictory statements by the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister on waiving loans taken by farmers and banning arrack and lotteries.

Criticising the manner in which Speaker Krishna had been functioning, he said the Congress had decided to move a no confidence motion against him in the coming session.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail