Centre ignores state govt’s schemes for minorities: CM

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar said on Friday that the Centre had not shown any interest in the schemes prepared by the state government for the welfare of minority sections.
The state government had submitted schemes for minorities’ welfare to the Centre for its sanction, but it did not accept them. As a result, the state government was forced to plan and implement schemes for their welfare from its own resources the CM said.
The schemes that the Centre’s minority welfare department rejected pertained to development of infrastructure at madrasas, construction of toilets and provision of drinking water facility, Nitish said while talking to mediapersons and added that Union minority development minister Salman Khursheed had no right to give sermons to the state government on minority welfare measures.
According to him, fencing of 7,064 graveyards was being done, while other schemes being implemented by the state government included extension of loans for self-employment, grant of Rs 10,000 to every boy or girl student who clears secondary school examination in first division, and skill development programme for girls from minority communities.
He also said the state government had provided land for Aligarh Muslim University extension centre at Kishanganj, but the Centre wanted it at Katihar. The CM said that public protest and mobilisation against corruption could occur on the same scale as was witnessed in 1974, that resulted in change of government at the Centre in 1977.
Relief Fund: Additional DG cum managing director of Bihar Rajya Police Nirman Nigam Ashok Kumar Gupta handed over a cheque of Rs 2 crore to the CM for his Relief Fund. For the first time, the corporation had earned profits after its revival in 2007, Gupta said.
The CM greeted people of the country and the state on the occasion of Holi and appealed to people to celebrate the festival and play colours in an atmosphere of harmony and brotherhood.