District-level committee to monitor Centre-funded schemes

A district-level committee headed by a local Member of Parliament will monitor Centre-funded schemes, BJP MPs were informed at the Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday and asked to use it to push for effective execution of developmental projects.

Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar spoke about the committee at the meeting, which was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party President Amit Shah and almost the entire Council of Ministers, party sources said.

The committee will meet at least four times in a year and have its first meeting next month, they said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also spoke briefly about a law, which has been cleared by the Cabinet, that will help banks in debt recoveries and improve ease of doing business.

Amending Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (Sarfaesi) Act is among the law's objectives.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is keen on the passage of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill (CAMPA) and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill in the coming days.

The party leaders also paid rich tributes to the martyrs on the occasion of the Kargil Vijay Diwas on Tuesday.

Kumar said five bills in Lok Sabha and two in the Rajya Sabha, which has seen frequent disruptions, have been passed so far in the ongoing Monsoon Session and appealed to the opposition in the Upper House to participate in the discussion.

"We will do all the official business (as listed). We had considered 16 bills for the session and four new bills besides them have also been brought," he said.