Union minister raps Tripura for unutilised central funds

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today criticised the Left Front government in Tripura for not utilising funds released by the central government for development of the state and uplift of the poor people.
The minister said that the state government never tired of blaming the Centre for not sanctioning enough funds for the development of the state.
"But what we want to say is that despite getting enough funds, this government is not utilising it properly and is not interested in uplifting the poor people," he told reporters here.
Giving statistics, he said that in the last three years, from 2010-11 to 2014-15, the Modi government had sanctioned funds three times more than the previous government did in the last five years.

"While the previous government had sanctioned Rs 7,646 crore, the Modi Government after coming to power in 2014 sanctioned Rs 23,655 crore for the agriculture sector in the state." he said.
Singh alleged that in the last two years the central government had sanctioned more than Rs one crore for giving soil health cards to 1,81,000 farmers in Tripura, but the state government could use only Rs 60 lakh to cover not even 40 per cent of the farmers.
He further alleged that the central government had sanctioned Rs three crore fifty-six lakh for setting up soil testing laboratories in different districts, but the state governjment failed to furnish any progress report so far.

"I do not want to lengthen my list of unutilised money, but will only say that before blaming the central government, they should review their own work," the minister said.