Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma today accused the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh of not cooperating with the Centre on implementation of development schemes, and said politics should be not done with projects that benefit the people.
Verma claimed the Centre gave maximum development funds to UP, but those were not being utilised properly.
Citing an example, he said the central government gave a huge sum under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, but irregularities were committed in its implementation in the state.
"We wrote a letter to the state to provide land for power plants in Jagdishpur and Gonda, but it was not done. We had to purchase the land. The power plants will benefit entire Uttar Pradesh, then why politics was done. Politics should not be done in such matters," the Union minister said.
On the interim budget tabled by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in the UP Assembly today, Verma said "whatever budget has been presented it is on funds provided by the Centre".
Terming corruption and law and order as the major issues, the minister said the people of the state had never been so distressed. He alleged that only people belonging to a particular caste were being recruited in government jobs.
Even senior UP minister Mohd Azam Khan "was not happy with the working of the state government", he claimed.
Earlier addressing a conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Union Minister said the Centre was taking steps to boost the industrial activity in UP.
Verma said in order to increase supply of steel to rural consumers in Uttar Pradesh companies like SAIL and RINL had appointed 521 and more than 100 rural dealers respectively.
The minister said due to the government's efforts "India has become the second best in terms of growth amongst top ten steel producing countries in the world".
