BHUBANESWAR : The BJP on Sunday accused the state government of committing fraud of a whopping Rs 40,000 crore during the Covid pandemic when the state was grappling with the deadly virus.
The state government plundered Covid funds earmarked for various projects to provide institutional support to panchayats, blocks and urban civic bodies to contain the spread of the virus and treatment of the affected people, state BJP spokesperson Manoj Mohapatra told mediapersons here.
Alleging the ruling BJD was on a looting spree when people were mostly confined to their homes, he said local fund audit has revealed user agencies have not submitted utilisation certificates (UCs) for the Rs 40,000 crore spent during 2020-21 and 2021-22 for Covid related activities.
Mohapatra said penalties amounting to Rs 400 crore have been imposed on block administrations for their inability to account for the expenditure claimed to have been incurred during the two years.
The state government, fearing a backlash, is not putting up the reports of the local fund audit on its official website. As per the audit, the state government incurred an expenditure of around `16,483 crore at block level (314 blocks) and there are no supporting documents to justify the spending.
Similarly, there is no proof of 21.73 lakh beneficiaries who were given widow pension during the Covid period. Seeking a clarification on the huge financial bungling from the state government, the BJP said it will launch an agitation across the state to inform people how their money was looted by the BJD when they were struggling to cope with the Covid situation. Express News Service @ Kozhikode
Close on the heels of M T Vasudevan Nair’s outbursts against authoritarianism, the venue of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLM) on Sunday witnessed another powerful indictment on autocracy.
Writer M Mukundan said that there should be a space for criticism for the growth of democracy but even writers are reluctant for creative criticism.
Interacting with reporters after his session at the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) in Kozhikode on Sunday, he said there should be a space for fearless criticism in India and Kerala. “Kerala government has done many good things, but there are some falls and the writers are pointing them out,” he said, adding that what he said in the speech was applicable to all rulers. The writer said that many are scared to venture for criticism.
“Siddique Pappan was here. Experiences like that prevents them from going for open criticism,” he said. ”The path to throne is a difficult one. You have to struggle and shed blood to reach the throne. But when path to the throne is easily forgotten when you reach there. This is a phenomenon we see everywhere,” he said. Quoting Jayaprakash Narayan, Mukundan said the rulers should vacate the throne before the people will come or else, they will be ejected out by the people. Asked whether his remarks can be linked to that of MT, Mukundan said “you may or may not connect” the two speeches.
On the question of personality cults and sycophancy referred to by MT, he said his opinion is that there should not be such trends in any party. “We don’t need leaders who enjoy hollow praises. I am not saying that leaders in Kerala are like that. There are many good leaders here” he said. During his interactive session with CPM leader M Swaraj Mukundan expressed concern over the rise of power-hungry politicians who prioritise personal gain over the well-being of the country they are meant to serve.
“This disturbing trend raises questions about the very essence of democracy and the need for vigilant citizens to safeguard the principles that underpin it,” Mukundan said.