Gujarat sets up relief fund for jawans, a year later

It may be recalled here that the BJP Government had to face severe criticism from the Opposition Congress for depositing the Kargil funds collected from Gujarat into the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund without spending a rupee out of it on the welfare and rehabilitation of the families of the Kargil martyrs from the state.

The row over the `misuse’ of Kargil martyrs’ fund by the Gujarat Government had even rocked the Assembly during the last budget session, and senior Congress MLA Urvashi Devi had even shot off a letter to the President, seeking his intervention in the matter. In her two-page letter to President K R Narayanan, Urvashi had urged him to ensure that the money collected for the Kargil Fund from Gujarat be handed over to the Army’s Central Relief Fund for the rehabilitation of families of jawans/army personnel injured or killed in the Kargil conflict.

Drawing the President’s attention to a `very grave matter’, Urvashi Devi had said in the letter that Rs 22.73 crore was collected for the Kargil Fund in Gujarat. Responding to Urvashi’s charge, both Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala had then informed the House that only Rs 2.60 crore of the Kargil funds had been transferred to the Army’s Central Welfare Fund, while the remaining amount was put into the the CM’s Relief Fund.

Taking strong exception to this, Urvashi Devi had shot back, saying, “the Gujarat Government has no moral right to keep the money in the CM’s Relief Fund. It must be utilised for every soldier who had fought the Kargil battle gallantly. People of Gujarat were generous because they were contributing for the Kargil soldiers, and I can assure you they would never have given such a huge amount to the CM’s Relief Fund”.

Terming the government’s action as `outrageous’, the Opposition member pointed out, “Everybody contributed generously for our soldiers; children gave all their pocket money, housewives their household money, even tribals and poor farmers who depend on daily wages contributed for the Kargil Fund which must be utilised for the rehabilitation of families of the Kargil martyrs”.