Bihar got only fraction of Rs 1.25 lakh cr package promised by PM

The Bihar government on Thursday said Rs 28,117.23 crore has been made available so far by the Centre for 30 schemes out of special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore for the state announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during assembly poll in 2015.

Out of this sum of Rs 28,117.23 crore, a sum of Rs 6608.77 crore has been spend so far, senior Bihar minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan informed the state Legislative council.

“In this way out of special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore announced by the PM, schemes worth Rs 96,885.77 crore has yet not been implemented,” the minister said replying on a call attention motion of Janata Dal-United MLC Niraj Kumar.

Singh, who is senior JD-U leader and Water Resources minister in Grand Alliance government headed by Nitish Kumar, gave detail of the current status of the special package.

In addition to Rs 1.25 lakh crore special package, the PM had also announced an additional Rs 40,000 crore of earlier packages, raising the total money to Rs 1.65 lakh crore.

The special package of the PM was a major poll plank of the National Democratic Alliance during 2015 state elections which they ultimately lost to coalition of the JD-U, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress.

While, the minister was narrating details of the special package, some Bharatiya Janata Party members asked the minister not to kill time of the House by taking so much time reading the details so that other issues could be discussed.

Making a scathing attack at the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, the minister said that out of Rs 8282 crore as part of BRGF (Backward Regional Grant Fund) only Rs 3,216.93 crore has been made available so far.

He further said that out of Rs 20,000 crore announced for installation of Ultra Megapower plant at Banka, a meagre amount of Rs 20 crore has been allocated so far.

Singh gave break-up of the special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore announced by the PM on August 18, 2015 at a public meeting at Ara.

Out of this a sum of Rs 54,713.11 crore was marked for schemes related to construction of National Highways and bridges in Bihar, he said.

For programmes concerning Rural development Rs 13,820.00 crore was earmarked, for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rs 21,476.00 crore, Civil Aviation Rs 2,700 crore, Higher Education Rs 1000 crore, Skill development Rs 1550 crore, Agriculture Rs 3094 crore, Railway Rs 8870 crore, Energy Rs 16,130 crore, Communication-Digital Bihar Rs 449 crore, Tourism and Health Rs 600 crore each totalling Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

As a follow up action, Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley had on August 28, 2015 and later on September 18, 2015 written a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to intimate him about the special package, the minister said.

The Bihar minister said that the CM in his letter to Jaitley dated September 23, 2015 had told him that the special package was nothing else but ‘repackaging’ of money approved for ongoing schemes.

The CM had sought to know from Jaitley as what would be the real shape of the package, what will be the size of actual financial assistance of the Centre excluding other contributors, what will be the time frame of the special package and ways of their implementation, he said.

In reply the Union finance minister did not give answer to specific questions raised by the CM. He, however, admitted that majority of schemes in the special package was of Centre which would be implemented by it directly, Singh said.

The Bihar minister outlined details of the latest status of programmes in different sectors of the special package.

On National highways and bridge constructions, the earmarked amount of Rs 54,713.11 crore was meant for running 42 projects.

The National Highways Authority of India has undertaken 23 projects out of this at a cost of Rs 29,361.21 crore out of which five at a cost of Rs 3893.14 crore has been started, he said.

On Petroleum and Natural gas a sum of Rs 21,476 crore was meant for 10 projects out of which none has been started so far, the minister added.

For Railways, Rs 8870 crore was announced for doubling and tripling and their electrification out of which projects worth Rs 6500 crore is yet to see light of the day, he said.

In the field of Energy, against Rs 16,130 crore meant for three projects, allocation of Rs 1143.09 crore is available.

In a nutshell, a sum of Rs 14,986.91 crore is yet to reach out of the promised Rs 16,130 crore in the field of energy, he said.

The minister alleged that the state government was not consulted in selection of schemes under the special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

“Had schemes chosen on advice of the state, it would have been more beneficial with more utility for the state,” he said.