No dearth of central funds for J&K: MoS in PMO

Asserting that there was no dearth of central funds for Jammu and Kashmir, Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh today said the state has been given money whenever it has asked for.
"The funds have come from the day of the floods. There is no dearth of funds. Let me once again make it clear. Every time a demand is made, money is being sent," the minister told reporters here.
Singh was addressing the media to highlight one-year performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
He said while the Centre had not released the full amount of Rs 44,000 crore under the proposal submitted by the state government for the relief and rehabilitation of flood affected people, it had released some part of it from time to time.

"Yes, we have not released all the money, but some part of that has been released. We have been sending money from time to time. We continue to send it," he said.
The Union minister said the state raised objections when the Centre asked for details as to how it had reached the figure of Rs 44,000 crore.

"When we asked the state as to how it arrived at a figure of Rs 44,000 crore, they were annoyed. They raised objection as to how we asked for the accountability. They blew it out of proportion that Centre was against Kashmir, that Centre wants Kashmir out of India. Then we did not ask for anything," Singh said.

He said the Centre would look into the complaints in the distribution of relief among the flood affected people of the state. "Certainly, if there are substantial complaints, it can be looked into," he said.
"Even during the floods when I was here, we had a programme where we received a deputation who said that instead of sending money through the state government, the Centre should develop a mechanism for direct transfer of money. But since, having regard for the federal system and for the independence of the state government, we did not go that far, we had never imagined going that far," he added.