New Delhi, September 13
He might be under fire from the Left parties but that did not prevent the Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia from ticking off an all-party delegation from West Bengal today for not following the rule-book.
Dr Ahluwalia is learnt to have castigated the West Bengal Government for not sending in the necessary utilisation certificates, allocating their share of resources for various programmes or submitting specific projects for the development schemes for which funds are being sought.
A 29-member delegation from the West Bengal Assembly, headed by Mr Prabodh Chandra Sinha, Minister in charge of Parliamentary Affairs, called on the Planning Commission Vice-Chairman this evening and submitted a 15-page wishlist to him, highlighting the problem of coastal and river erosion in the state.
This meeting took place against the backdrop of a vociferous attack launched against Dr Ahluwalia by the Left parties for his decision to include World Bank experts on Planning Commission consultative groups.
Dr Ahluwalia subsequently clarified that these experts had been included only to give inputs for the mid-term appraisal of the Tenth Plan. This has not stopped the Left parties, including former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, from going public with their unhappiness on this issue.
While this matter is yet to be sorted out, Dr Ahluwalia did not hesitate to do some plainspeaking with the all-party delegation from West Bengal.
He is reported to have told them that the Centre was hamstrung in releasing funds as the state government failed to submit its quarterly utilisation certificates. It is only when this certificate is submitted can the funds for the next quarter be released.
