Thaindian News

Rae Bareli, Dec 12 (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unhappy over the poor implementation of central government welfare schemes for the poor in her constituency Rae Bareli and has asked officials to get pro-active, party and official sources said Saturday.
At her meeting with senior state government officials that went on for over three hours, Gandhi asked about almost every development programmes being carried out in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. The meeting took place after the end of her two-day trip to the Lok Sabha constituency.

Gandhi instructed the officials to carry out special programmes for publicising the welfare scheme among the masses, the source said.

Gandhi reportedly pulled up several officials for their “lackadaisical approach” towards the execution of the welfare schemes, particularly the the Indira Awas Yojna and Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which are primarily aimed at the rural masses.

She told the officials to come up with a status report of developmental projects at the earliest.

“She (Gandhi) directed us to work extensively for spreading awareness about welfare schemes in Rae Bareli so that people understand them well and know who to approach if they not satisfied,” Rae Bareli district magistrate Charanjeet Singh Bakshi told IANS.

“One of her suggestions for making the welfare schemes popular was to install hoardings in villages about the welfare schemes sponsored by the central government. Soniaji has sought a report from us, but has not set any deadline,” Bakshi added.

Bakshi said that Gandhi also discussed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the midday meal for school kids as well as rural electrification.

“She highlighted the lapses and instructed us to carry out necessary steps for speedy development of Rae Bareli,” Bakshi said.

Gandhi toured Rae Bareli, once represented in the Lok Sabha by her late mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, toured the constituency to review the status of developmental schemes.

“Soniaji is thoroughly dissatisfied over the manner in which the central government-sponsored schemes are being carried out in her constituency,” Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh told reporters here.

“The feedback she received yesterday left her highly disappointed. She pulled up a number of district officials and directed them to meet her with files related to the projects being carried out at a tardy pace,” said Singh.