Patna, October 17: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today refuted
the allegation levelled by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against his
government that the Central fund was not being properly utilised in
the state, saying Dr Singh had presented distorted figures on the
issue which was tantamount to misleading people ahead of the
Assembly elections.
Mr Kumar told reporters here the Prime Minister had referred
during his speech in an election meeting in Narpatganj yesterday
that Rs 1,000 crore was being given to Bihar as special package per
year since 2004 for infrastructural development, which was
factually incorrect as the amount was being given to the state since
2002 when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was in power at the
Centre.
”In the backdrop against carving out a new Jharkhand state from
Bihar in 2000, it was decided by the Centre to compensate Bihar by
providing Rs 1,000 crore per year for infrastructural development
due to losses of internal resources following bifurcation of the
state,” Mr Kumar said.
–Agencies