http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-11-19/india/30419167_1_mnrega-weavers-jairam-ramesh
Mayawati trashes MNREGA scam charges, calls Rahul's concern for
weavers politically motivated
Ashish Tripathi, TNN Nov 19, 2011, 02.36PM IST
(Rebutting allegations of corruption in implementation of MNREGA in
UP, Mayawati said that the accusations are politically motivated and
misleading.)
LUCKNOW: Rebutting union rural development minister's allegation of
corruption in implementation of MNREGA in UP, chief minister Mayawati
on Saturday said that the accusations are politically motivated and
misleading.
As per the evaluation of MNERAGA cell of the union government, UP has
been among the best performing states in last four but all of sudden
the corruption charges have cropped up, she said, which shows that
there is more politics than genuine concern for MNREGA in Jairam's
allegations.
UP cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh, while briefing media
persons on behalf of the chief minister, also said that soon after
coming to power in 2007, the BSP government had recommended CBI probe
into the multi-crore food grain scam under Swarn Jayanti Rojgar Yojna,
which the central government rejected but later CBI was handed over
the probe after high court's intervention.
Similarly, he said, chief minister has asked for a 36,000 package for
east UP which had proposals for the benefit of weavers but the union
government did nothing. Now, he said, when elections are round the
corner, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi after his recent visit
to east UP had written to the textile minister to provide relief to
the east UP weavers. Acting as per Rahul's directions, he said, union
textile minister Anand Sharma is visiting Varanasi on Saturday. This,
he added, chief minister believes is nothing but political move taken
in view of upcoming UP assembly elections due in March-April 2012.
On the MNREGA scam, Singh said that the two letters of the union rural
development minister Jairam Ramesh has based his allegations on the
report of state level monitors. He said that these monitors were
deputed by the state government and action has been taken in 117 cases
of corruption reported by the monitors. Similarly, he said out of 22
reports of the national monitors, state government has taken action in
17 and action for remaining is underway. He said that the action taken
report in all the cases has already been sent to the central
government. Under such conditions, he said, chief minister believes
singling out UP can only be described as politically motivated as
elections are round the corner.
Singh said that the chief minister also initiated several schemes for
handloom workers and weavers of east UP from the limited resources of
UP when Centre did not listen to the demand of special package. Now,
he added, when elections are round the corner, chief minister says
that if a package is being released by the central government and
union textile minister is visiting weavers, it could only be described
as an election stunt.
Jairam Ramesh in his first letter on October 24 had levelled
allegations of large scale corruption in implementation of MNREGA. He
had named seven districts where the irregularities were maximum. In
response, Mayawati had rejected all allegations and had written
directly to the Prime Minister, while overlooking Ramesh, describing
minister's letter as politically motivated.
The second letter by Ramesh was written on November 14, the day
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi launched his poll campaign in
UP. The letter accused Mayawati of protecting those involved in
alleged irregularities in implementation of MNREGA in some districts
-- Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant
Kabir Nagar districts. Now in a strongly worded response, Mayawati has
described allegations as misleading.
Meanwhile, union textile minister who is visiting east UP is expected
to announce a package for handloom sector in a bid to boost credit
availability, subsidize freight and yarn prices. The package for the
handloom sector follows a letter from Rahul on November 14 where he
had said that the Rs 3,000-crore package announced in last budget has
not been implemented.
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