Putting discretion into CM146;s fund

So when Khanduri, in his endeavour to get in touch with the people, undertook a tour of the districts, he was flummoxed by a huge number of applications he received from them for cash relief from his discretionary fund. After his return to the capital, Khanduri said that people showed tremendous response and came up to him with their problems.

In the past seven years since Uttarakhand became a separate state, a total of Rs 108 crore has been distributed as cash relief to 1.25 lakh people from the Chief Minister8217;s fund.

Harak Singh Rawat, Congress legislator and now Leader of Opposition, topped the list and got a sum of Rs 1.33 crore from the fund for 4016 beneficiaries from his constituency. Even opposition legislators from the BJP, the BSP and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal benefited from Tiwari8217;s largesse.

Khanduri is in no mood to oblige politicians. 8220;We have made norms to give cash relief from the CM8217;s Discretionary Fund only to deserving people,8221; he says. He stopped payment of cheques drawn on the fund cleared by the previous Congress regime before Assembly elections. He has directed the bureaucracy to deal with the matter and entrusted the task of vetting all applications for cash relief from the fund to the district administration. Khanduri will entertain an application only after it has been cleared.