Centre withholds Rs 1100 crore Rural Development Funds to Punjab govt

The Central government has withheld Rs 1100 crore Rural Development Fund to the Aam Aadmi Party-led government pending amendment of the Punjab Rural Development Act 1987, to prevent diversion of the scheme funds for other purposes.

Chandigarh:The Central government has withheld Rs 1100 crore Rural Development Fund to the Aam Aadmi Party-led government pending amendment of the Punjab Rural Development Act 1987, to prevent diversion of the scheme funds for other purposes.

It has been learned that the Centre's move comes after the previous Congress regime had spent the RDF funds on the loan waiver scheme for farmers. The Union government also said that the money from the Rural Development Fund was provided for the development of procurement centers. This money should be spent only for that, it added.

Earlier also the Union Government had withheld Rs 1200 crore from the Punjab government. At that time, the Punjab government had assured that they would amend the Act but that was not done and the money was distributed by the government in the farmers' loan waiver. The Centre objected to the distribution of money in the debt waiver.

It is pertinent to note that the money released by the then Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh was distributed among the farmers in the debt waiver.