A day after Union minister Kumari Selja and some Congress leaders attacked him over "tardy implementation of Centre policies for the uplift of Dalits", Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said those "in air conditioned rooms should personally visit" the villages to see the development.
Hooda said that those sitting in air conditioned rooms in Delhi could not see how many plots have been allotted to the beneficiaries belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes-A and those living Below the Poverty Line and how many schemes have been implemented for their welfare.
Speaking at 'Dalit awareness sammelan' here yesterday, Selja, Birender Singh and another senior Congress leader Ishwar Singh had launched a veiled attack on the state government for tardy implementation of policies and programmes of the Centre for the uplift of the Dalits.
Selja had expressed apprehensions over the implementation of 'Priyadarshini Awas Yojna', saying "it might not meet the same fate as did the other schemes like the 100 square metre plots for the poor".
Hooda today launched a counter attack while speaking at a function in Karnal after launching 'Priyadarshini Awas Yojna' (PAY) to provide affordable housing facilities to the people in rural areas in the state.
Without naming any of his detractors, Hooda asked them to "personally visit the villages" to see the development which has taken place in the state.
He said that prior to him, the government of the INLD-BJP remained in power in the state and all are aware that "they did nothing for the development of rural areas".
"During their six years tenure, they had spent only Rs 1,800 crore on rural development whereas our government has so far spent more than Rs 9,000 crore for the development of rural areas," the chief minister said.
While launching the PAY, Hooda transferred the first instalment of Rs 25,000 per beneficiary in the bank accounts of 30 beneficiaries through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system.
Out of these beneficiaries, 28 belonged to the Scheduled Castes and the remaining two were from Backward Classes.
