Cong,BSP leaders spar in Rahul’s meet over NREGA scam inquiry

Even as Congressmen claimed that BSP legislators had acceded to their proposal of allowing the Centre to probe the NREGA scam if the state level inquiry is not complete by April 17,BSP legislators said their point was misunderstood as they had requested for “at least” two months to complete the inquiry.

“NREGA was on the agenda of the meeting. Rahul Gandhi said there should be an inquiry by a Central team into the scam,in which an NGO was allegedly granted around Rs 88 lakh in an unauthorised manner. We told the committee members that the state had already instituted an inquiry into the same on February 17,” said O P Singh,BSP legislator from Jaisinghpur.

He added,“When we asked how much time the Centre would take to complete the inquiry,we were told at least two months. We therefore asked for at least that much time for the state government to complete its inquiry.”

Congress leader from Sultanpur,Deepak Singh,however added: “The date of April 17 has been mutually agreed upon and if the state government is unable to complete its inquiry till that date,the Centre can order a direct inquiry into the anomalies in NREGA fund allocation.”

The committee,chaired by the region MP,reviews the development work in the region and discusses the plan for the future development of the region. Besides officials of the district administration,local MLAs and MLCs are also members of this committee. After Gandhi was re-elected as Amethi MP in 2009,this was the first time such a meeting had been called.

Of the eight assembly seats in Sultanpur,two have Congress MLAs,one an SP legislator while the remaining five seats are with the BSP. Besides BSP legislator Vinod Singh,all other leaders were present at the meeting,

MNREGS was not the only issue that got the Congress and BSP leaders to confront each other with sources claiming that heated debates erupted on the issue of providing houses to those who lost their huts in floods last year.

While BSP legislators asked Gandhi to provide Indira Awas to 5,735 poor people in the region,the Congress MP explained that around 608 Indira Awas have been provided under the set rules. When Congress MLA Amita Singh suggested that the remaining poor be provided houses under the Mahamaya Awas Yojna — the scheme started by Mayawati,BSP leaders objected to it vehemently,arguing that their scheme was not meant for those who lost their houses in natural calamity.

“We made it clear that we were part of the meeting because of the development of the region and,therefore,it would be better if the meeting was not turned into any political platform,” said O P Singh.

Other schemes to be reviewed during the meeting were Total Sanitation Campaign,Rural Drinking Water Mission and Swajal Dhara Yojana. As large scale discrepancy was reportedly found in the implementation of Swajal Dhara Scheme,it was agreed that a committee would be formed to look into the matter.

Man tries to sneak into Rahul’s convoy,held
Sultanpur: A man was arrested for breaching Rahul Gandhi’s security after he reportedly tried to sneak into the convoy of the Congress leader on Friday. Rahul was on his way to attend a meeting at Vikas Bhawan when Mewalal,allegedly in an inebriated state,approached the convoy and was immediately nabbed by the Special Protection Group personnel and handed over to the police.

Inspector,Sultanpur Kotwali,Virendra Singh said Mewalal was arrested.

An FIR was also lodged against a dozen members of the Vyapar Mandal (traders’ association) who tried to raise slogans when Rahul was on his way to attend the meeting. The members of the Mandal fled the scene when police tried to nab them,Singh said. – PTI