Patna, June 28: Addressing the serious concerns voiced by members over non-utilisation or under-utilisation of huge central assistance for Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana (JGSY), deputy speaker of Bihar Assembly Bhola Singh today announced constitution of a special house committee to probe the matter. The committee would look into the entire gamut of issues involved after the members, who while posing a number of supplementaries, expressed dissatisfaction over the poor performance under JGSY and demanded a house panel.

Earlier replying to a postponed short notice question by Navin Kisore Prasad Sinha (BJP), rural development minister Awadh Bihari Choudhry said the government was committed to implementing JGSY scheme in right earnest and the government would initiate stern action against officials found guilty of not properly utilising the central funds. Sinha had alleged that out of total Rs 656 crore sanctioned by the Centre for the scheme during the past three years the government had utilised only a marginal amount which he did not specify.

The inadequate utilisation of funds had led to flight of labourers to other states for earning of livelihood, he said and demanded action against the minister and officials for not utilising the funds properly.

This prompted Choudhry to demand action against the Centre for allegedly not releasing the fund on time. He said despite timely submission of the utilisation certificates, the funds were released at the fag end of a financial year giving an opportunity to the opposition to shift the onus on the state government for not utilising Central funds. The deputy speaker then announced that a special house committee would probe the non-utilisation of Central funds and fix responsibility on the officials for thier laxity in implementing the Central schemes.

Bureau Report