Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawaar Chand Gehlot today alleged that the Jharkhand government's inability to take benefit from central schemes had affected the target groups under his ministry.
"It's unfortunate that no minister or secretary of the department concerned turned up for a meeting convened by my department on August 22/23 in Delhi to review schemes," Gehlot said at a press conference here.
"Some states have given utilisation certificates (on the expenditure of previous year's funds for the schemes) while others have not yet," the minister said.
He said if Jharkhand was represented in that meeting and had given the utilisation certificates, funds would have been cleared for this year.
"Even in the secretary-level meeting at a circuit house in Jharkhand (during the Minister's ongoing 4-day visit), the officials (from the state) did not meet me or Sudarshan Bhagat (Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment) though we were there," regretted Gehlot.
Stating that Jharkhand could have political differences with the Centre or the BJP, Gehlot wondered why it should hamper people belonging to ST/OBC/handicap categories from getting welfare schemes under his ministry.
"...And they talk about federal structure," Gehlot said, apparently taking a dig at Chief Minister Hemant Soren's statement "It's a rape of federal structure" after he was hooted in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 21 at a function here.
