Tuesday, December 26, 2006

I will not seek votes if I fail to deliver: Nitish

Charging the UPA government at the Centre with neglecting Bihar's development, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday said paucity of funds will not be allowed to impede the state's development and asserted he would not seek votes in the next Assembly elections if his government failed to deliver.

"My government is committed to development and in the brief time it has been in existence, positive changes are visible. In little over a year that we have been in power, fruits of progress have begun to be seen," he said addressing a public meeting here after laying foundation of various development schemes worth Rs 645 crore for this district.

Kumar said though the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was not coming forth with adequate assistance for Bihar, the state's NDA government would not allow the development projects to "starve" due to paucity of resources.

"We are going to invest Rs 8,000 crore in roads. Likewise we have plans to make huge investments in other infrastructure. There would be very positive changes over the next four years, he said addresing the public meeting at the local Degree college.

Kumar, often accused by his political adversaries for making "empty promises," reiterated his resolve to usher in a new era of progress and prosperity in Bihar.

"If my government fails to keep its promise of building a new and developed Bihar over the remaining four years of its tenure, I would not not seek votes in the next assembly polls," he said.

AchievementsEnumerating the achievements of his Government, Kumar said reservation of 50 per cent of seats for women in Panchayati Raj institutions was a "historic step."

The Chief Minister claimed the law and order situation has undergone a positive change after the NDA government came to power.

"In just one year, 6000 accused have been convicted of various crimes and of these over 1100 were sentenced to life imprisonment. Our endeavour to bring the criminals to justice has created fear of the law in the minds of anti-socials and respect among those who abide by it," he said.

Kumar said the government was actively considering a proposal for inter-linking of rivers to find a lasting solution to the recurrent problems of flood and drought in the state.

"If we succeed, the state would get rid of the twin- problems that have hindered our development for ages," he said.

Kumar also referred to the scheme under which people living below the poverty line would be provided coupons which they would hand over to public distribution system (PDS) dealers upon lifting foodgrains and kerosene at subsidised rates.

The dealers would be required to submit all the coupons collected by them to a government official and the number of coupons would form the basis for fixing the quantum of commodities the PDS outlet owners would be entitled to lift the next time.

"This has been done to check blackmarketing of foodgrains and other commodities meant for the poor. I am confident that the move would check irregularities in the PDS," he said.

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