UP not using central funds properly, says UPA chairperson

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday launched a frontal attack on the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, saying that the state was not implementing centrally-funded welfare schemes properly, and urging the people to keep a track on how the funds are spent.

This was seen as a riposte to state chief m inister Mayawati's charge last week that the centre was adopting a step-motherly attitude towards the state and was not sending enough funds.

Gandhi alleged that though the centre has been sending huge funds to the state government for welfare programmes, people were not getting their due.

On the first day of her three-day tour in Rae Bareli, addressing a workers' meeting in Sareni Block, she said it was the responsibility of the state government to ensure implementation of the schemes. But ''everyone knows about the attitude of the state government towards Rae Bareli and Amethi''.

Under the circumstances, she told the workers, it was their responsibility to monitor the implementation of development schemes at the grassroots level. ''Thousands of crores of rupees are being sent by the centre for development and now we have to monitor its implementation,'' she said in Hindi.

She said despite the central funds, the situation on the ground remained unchanged with people facing problems such as non-availability of power and water and shortage of fertilizers and seeds.