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State Bureau, Shimla. Under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the budget received from the Central Government has been spent on building 19 rest houses. This is a case of misuse of budget during the tenure of the previous BJP government.
12 rest houses (rest houses, inspection huts, Kisan Bhawan) have been constructed in Dharampur assembly constituency of Mandi district, while 7 rest houses have been constructed in Saraj Vis area. This is the constituency of former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur. A total of Rs 37.85 crore has been spent on this. Rs 26.11 crore was spent in Dharampur and Rs 11.74 crore was spent in Seraj Vis area.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri gave this information in the Assembly in response to a question asked by MLA Chandrashekhar. The Deputy Chief Minister said that out of 12 rest houses in Dharampur assembly constituency, 5 are still under construction while the work of 7 has been completed and their use has started. Similarly, in Saraj Vis area, work on 7 inspection huts has been completed and work on 1 inspection hut is in progress.
He said that Inspection Huts, Kisan Bhawan and these have been constructed under different names. Mukesh Agnihotri said that under the budget approved for Jal Jeevan Mission, there was no provision for building a rest house. The Center has also expressed objection to this and refused to give budget for this.
The state government has been asked to spend Rs 37.85 crore from the state budget. The central team has also visited Dharampur area where the mission money has been spent. Of the total 19 rest houses, 2 are built in Saraj Vis area and money has been spent on them from the state budget, while the Jal Shakti Department has spent money on one rest house in Dharampur.
1450 crores were sanctioned to Dharampur Vis area
The Deputy Chief Minister said that under the Jal Jeevan Mission, a budget of Rs 6395 crore has been approved by the Center for Himachal. The state has received only Rs 5167 crore. The budget of Rs 1227 crore is still pending. Under this mission, a total of 1747 schemes were approved in the state, work on 1100 schemes is going on. The remainder is pending.
Under the mission, a budget of Rs 1450 crore was approved for Dharampur assembly constituency. Out of this, works worth Rs 650 crore have been completed, while the remaining works are pending. This can be completed only when the budget comes from the Center under JJM.
Center said to stop giving free water and collect Rs 100 bill
The Deputy Chief Minister said that he has met the Union Minister several times for the amount of Rs 1227 crore pending with the Center under JJM. Out of Rs 1227 crore, work worth Rs 600 crore has already been done. The previous government had written to the Center that the mission has been completed in the state. The Center has stopped the budget.
The Center has imposed a new condition for releasing this amount. It said that water schemes under JJM will be made only up to the tank. Further work should be done by the Rural Development Department. While refusing to provide free water, a condition has been imposed to charge monthly bill of Rs 100 from normal families and Rs 30 for low income people.
Rest house will not be built without cabinet approval
Satpal Singh Satti said that under JJM, taps should have been installed in every house. There was no provision for rest house. He said that sometimes leaders get such work done by putting pressure on officials. He said that there should be strict rules for this so that the officers can say that if they do this, they will be caught. The Deputy Chief Minister announced in the House that now no rest house will be built in the Jal Shakti Department without cabinet approval.
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