AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Congress MP Madhusudan Mistry has termed the State Government's "so-called urban poor package" as a "political stunt" to mislead the urban poor.

Inquiries

The Rs.13,000-crore "Garib Samrudhi Yojana" was launched by Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani here on Sunday.

Mr. Modi had earlier announced the scheme in the Assembly.

Mr. Mistry said he made discreet inquiries about the scheme with government departments and was informed that the "yojana" was nothing but a compilation of on-going projects for urban areas including housing, water supply electrification and slum clearance.

The "yojana" that Mr. Modi "touted as the State Government's own scheme" included a large amount of contributions from the Centre.

There was neither any budgetary allocation for the "yojana" nor was there any project details or annual plans available with the government departments concerned.

Even the State Planning Commission had no knowledge about it. Contrary to the claims made in the government circular about an "ummeed " (expectation) scheme under the "yojana," under which Rs.100 crore was supposed to have been allocated for providing training to unemployed urban youth, there was no such scheme under the Industries and Mines Department, which was to function as the nodal agency.

Tall claims

The tall claims made by Mr. Modi and Mr. Advani were "political stunts" and would belie the expectations of the urban poor, Mr. Mistry said.

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