Village Adoption: PMO Writes to Bengal Chief Secy

NEW DELHI: Expressing dismay at the failure of the MPs from  West Bengal to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has shot off a letter to the West Bengal Chief Secretary to review the progress made. So far, only three of the state’s 42 MPs -  Bijoya Chandra Barman and Sultan Ahmed (both TMC) and S S Ahluwalia of the BJP - have heeded to the PM’s call to the LS members direction out of 42 members to adopt a village each.

Curiously, the lone representative from the state in Modi’s Cabinet, Union Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo himself is yet to join the project. Prime Minister’s ‘Adopt-a-village’ scheme has received an overwhelming response from  the MPs and most of them have already zeroed down on a village to adopt and develop.

In the letter to Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Nripendra Misra said, “Many Members of Parliament from your state have yet to identify villages to be taken up by them under  Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.” However, Misra hoped that the state government would be reviewing the progress in the matter.

As per the latest figures from the Ministry of Rural Development, out of 543 Lok Sabha members, 481 have already adopted a village and only 62 members  are yet to identify the villages to be adopted by them.

Similarly, out of 246 Rajya Sabha members, 172 members have adopted a village and only 74 are yet to identify the villages to be adopted. Out of the 16 RS members from West Bengal, no one has adopted a village. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, Derek o Brien and Mukul Roy (both TMC) are among the 16 members of Rajya Sabha, who have not identified a village to adopt.

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