Times of India: Jalandhar: Saturday, 22 June 2024.
An RTI (Right to
Information) investigation has revealed how the Punjab chief minister’s home
district of Sangrur received more than 50% of his seven-times-inflated
discretionary fund along with even some other ministers’ shrunken money in the
last two financial years.
The 600-page report with RTI activist Parvinder Singh Kitna suggests that Sangrur received a lion’s share of the state’s total discretionary fund. In the 2022-23 fiscal, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had Rs 5 crore under his discretion. This was increased to Rs 37 crore in the next fiscal, when it was reduced from Rs 1.5 to 1 crore for each of his ministers.
Mann had given Rs 2.87 crore or 57% of his discretionary fund to home district in his first year as CM and Rs 19.16 crore or 51.7% in the second. A year before the model code of conduct for the parliamentary elections was enforced, he gave away more than Rs 17 crore to Sangrur for various projects when the other ministers had also contributed to the district. Among three ministers from the district, Harpal Singh Cheema spared Rs 1.85 crore, Aman Arora Rs 1.17 crore, and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer Rs 16 lakh, while Harjot Singh Bains gave away Rs 45 lakh and Chetan Singh Jauramajra chipped in with Rs 2 lakh from their discretionary fund.
From the cabinet’s total discretionary fund, Sangrur got the big bite of Rs 27.13 crore, while much bigger cities Amritsar (Rs 5.88 crore) and Ludhiana (Rs 5.26 crore) had to content with morsels. Kapurthala (Rs 46 lakh), Ferozepur (Rs 31.65 lakh), and Fatehgarh Sahib (Rs 26 lakh) were at the bottom of this feeding table.
RTI activist Kitna said: “Rules limit poor people’s house-building grant to Rs 50,000 and house-repair money to Rs 15,000, but there were instances where the state paid Rs 50,000 for house repair and the grant went to dharamsalas run by religious organisations that are out of policy’s purview. The previous CMs also used to spoil their home districts, and the trend continues.”
The 600-page report with RTI activist Parvinder Singh Kitna suggests that Sangrur received a lion’s share of the state’s total discretionary fund. In the 2022-23 fiscal, chief minister Bhagwant Mann had Rs 5 crore under his discretion. This was increased to Rs 37 crore in the next fiscal, when it was reduced from Rs 1.5 to 1 crore for each of his ministers.
Mann had given Rs 2.87 crore or 57% of his discretionary fund to home district in his first year as CM and Rs 19.16 crore or 51.7% in the second. A year before the model code of conduct for the parliamentary elections was enforced, he gave away more than Rs 17 crore to Sangrur for various projects when the other ministers had also contributed to the district. Among three ministers from the district, Harpal Singh Cheema spared Rs 1.85 crore, Aman Arora Rs 1.17 crore, and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer Rs 16 lakh, while Harjot Singh Bains gave away Rs 45 lakh and Chetan Singh Jauramajra chipped in with Rs 2 lakh from their discretionary fund.
From the cabinet’s total discretionary fund, Sangrur got the big bite of Rs 27.13 crore, while much bigger cities Amritsar (Rs 5.88 crore) and Ludhiana (Rs 5.26 crore) had to content with morsels. Kapurthala (Rs 46 lakh), Ferozepur (Rs 31.65 lakh), and Fatehgarh Sahib (Rs 26 lakh) were at the bottom of this feeding table.
RTI activist Kitna said: “Rules limit poor people’s house-building grant to Rs 50,000 and house-repair money to Rs 15,000, but there were instances where the state paid Rs 50,000 for house repair and the grant went to dharamsalas run by religious organisations that are out of policy’s purview. The previous CMs also used to spoil their home districts, and the trend continues.”