· Centre can close its ration scheme any time: MLA Chaudhary
· Not a single penny sanctioned for development works in Phillaur: MLA Chaudhary
· Government dragging its feet on constructing RUBs/ROBs on Phillaur and Goraya railway crossings
CHANDIGARH/Jalandhar March 7 (Jaswinder Singh Azad)- Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary on Thursday raised the issue of closure of Punjab government’s ration distribution scheme in the Vidhan Sabha and asked the government to restart its own scheme in case the Central government shuts down its food security programme.
He said that Punjab had more than 40 lakhs ration cards and 1 crore 56 lakhs beneficiaries. The ration card holders received ration at highly subsidized rates under the previous Congress and Akali Dal governments, but the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party government closed this scheme after the Central government started giving 5 kg of cereals per head during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
MLA Chaudhary said the Centre could shut down its ration distribution scheme any time, but no mention of the state government’s scheme was made in neither the Finance Minister’s speech nor the budget.
He demanded that the AAP government should ensure the poor people were not deprived of their rights and Punjab’s own public distribution scheme be started again.
MLA Chaudhary said it was regrettable that the development of the villages of Punjab had taken a backseat during the AAP government
In a Starred Question, he raised the issue of non-sanctioning of grants for the Phillaur assembly constituency. The government said in reply that other than grants sanctioned under the 15th Finance Commission’s devolution, not a single penny was given for any village or town of Phillaur. MLA Chaudhary said it was regrettable that the development of the villages of Punjab had taken a backseat during the AAP government and money was being spent only on ads.
The Phillaur MLA also voiced the long pending issue of the construction of overbridges/underpasses at the railway level crossings in Phillaur and Goraya in the Vidhan Sabha yesterday. The government admitted in the assembly that there was a need for overbridges/underpasses at those crossings, but the matter of their construction was still under consideration. He said it was extremely unfortunate that the government admitted the problem, but was dragging its feet on solving it immediately.