Gandhinagar, Mar 11: Opposition Congress in Gujarat Assembly today charged the ruling BJP of "failure to spend the available funds for earthquake rehabilitation" and reminded that the state government would have to "return the monetary aid if not used within three years.” Participating in general discussion on budget, former finance minister and congress MLA Babubhai Shah said, "Only Rs 2280 crore, out of the total rs 6,000 crore has been spent for rehabilitation in quake-ravaged areas till date.”
Shah also said, "It was needless to take loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for rehabilitation as the Centre had already advanced Rs 2400 crore to the state, by imposing two percent surcharge on income tax.”
"Moreover, by borrowing loans from the World Bank and ADB, the state is obliged to follow the norms and conditions put forward for rehabilitation and this has nothing but delayed the work in quake-hit areas," Shah claimed.
The Congress leader also alleged that the "state coffers have remained empty despite tall claims of large industrial investment," and added that "the number of unemployed youth in state is increasing as industrial development was not 'employment generating'".
The Congress leader also made a satirical attack on names of various scheme saying "the beneficiaries of these welfare schemes would never by able to memorise names like panchamrut yojna, ashtang yojna, jyotirgram yojna and others.”

Bureau Report