(News) Rs 1200 Crore Pre-Holi Gift for Bundelkhand

Rs 1200 Crore Pre-Holi Gift for Bundelkhand

It has been raining money in Budelkhand. After chief minister Mayawati allocated Rs 1,200 to Bundelkhand in her budget announced just a fortnight ago, another gift hamper comes along its way -- this time from Delhi. The special assistance package of Rs 1,200 crore from the Centre is a much welcome pre-Holi gift to the parched region, known so far for farmers' suicides and sever drought condition and the highest rate of migration.

The money, says state minister for rural development at the Centre, Pradeep Jain, "would go a long way in strengthening the infrastructure network, specially in the irrigation, draught management and energy sector. It has been a pleasant surprise as the Centre had already sanctioned Rs 4,000 crore for its development only in November 2009 apart from clearing a proposal to take up the region under the repairs renovation and restoration (RRR) of water bodies programme, he said.

The five districts of southern UP, populated predominantly by dalits and backwards, have been the main focal area of confrontation between the Congress and the BSP over the last two years. From Mayawati's promise to carve out a separate Bundelkhand if the Centre so proposed, to Rahul Gandhi's aborted bid to set up a separate development authority, there has been no let up in heat.

And even the jubilant Congressmen pat themselves on the back for acting as saviours the region needed and never got till Rahul Gandhi stepped on to its soil, the "measly allocation'' in the Union budget has only raised Mayawati's ire. A terse note released by the CM office questions the pittance announced by the Dilli sarkar. The UPA has been making such hue and cry over Bundelkhand but the pittance allocated to it in the budget clearly reflects its mentality and true intentions of the Congress party, it quotes the CM. She had been demanding a package of Rs 80,000 crores but the Congress party has consistently ignored it so far, Mayawati complained.

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Courtesy:- The Times of India