Gujarat govt swallowed Kargil funds — Oppn

MARCH 13: The entire Opposition on Monday staged a walk-out in the state legislative assembly alleging that the state government has swallowed the funds which it collected for soldiers during the Kargil operation. The half an hour discussion on the issue of Kargil Fund was initiated by Udesinh Baria (Cong) in which he alleged that the money collected in the name of the Kargil conflict was not sent to the Centre.

Replying to the discussion, finance minister Vajubhai Vala said there was a total collecting of Rs 22.74 crore in the Chief Minister’s relief fund for Kargil. He said, out of this Rs two crore, along with an additional contribution of Rs three crore from the state government was given to the Centre.

He said 24 martyrs from Gujarat (between 1971 to 1999) were given financial assistance of Rs two lakh per family while twelve martyrs of Kargil were given financial assistance of Rs five lakh per family. He further said, out of the remaining amount, Rs 15 crore is being held in deposit and Rs 4.79 crore is in a saving account.

At this stage, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel intervened and said there was no special fund with the government to face such crises. So, it started a special fund called ‘Sainik Kalyan Fund’ to be used during such events. This could not satisfy the Opposition members and they staged a walkout.