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Badal’s Muktsar gets biggest chunk of fund pie
Charanjit Bhullar
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 14
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal seems to have taken a strong liking to the proverb, “Charity begins at home”. For, Rs 47.13 crore out of the Rs 55-crore grant released by the state government under the Social Infrastructure Development Fund (SIF) scheme have gone to his home district of Muktsar.

The grant has been released over the past three years for the construction of houses for the poor.

While Muktsar district took away 85 per cent of the funds, 13 out of the 22 districts in the state failed to get even a single penny under the scheme, suggests information provided by the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) under the RTI Act. The scheme, which was implemented in the state on June 22, 2010, provides Rs 1.5 lakh to the poor for the construction of new houses and Rs 15,000 for the renovation of old ones.

The funds were generated from the licence fee collected from developers and promoters as change of land user charges, etc.

The district has received these funds in 16 installments. The first installment of Rs 1.39 crore was released on November 30, 2010, while the last one of Rs 1.04 crore was given on January 24, 2013. In Muktsar, Badal’s Assembly constituency Lambi took away the majority share. The information provided by the Muktsar District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) suggests 18 villages of the Lambi constituency got Rs 3.06 crore in 2012-2013 for the construction of 292 new houses and renovation of 650 houses. In November-December, 2011, 41 villages of Lambi were allotted Rs 4.20 crore.

Muktsar further received Rs 6.18 crore as SIF funds for the construction of toilets and bathrooms. Gidderbaha constituency followed Lambi in benefitting the most from the scheme.

The allotment to other districts was minuscule - Ludhiana received Rs 4 lakh, Mohali Rs 1.6 lakh, Gurdaspur, Patiala and Tarn Taran Rs 1.5 lakh each.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s parliamentary constituency Bathinda was slightly better off than these districts, as it received Rs 68 lakh from the total allocation. Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Adviser to the Chief Minister, said there was nothing wrong in the Chief Minister allocating funds to his home district.

Got 85% grant under infra scheme: RTI