State rural development and panchayati raj minister, Bharat Singh, on Tuesday, admitted in the Vidhan Sabha that several APL (above poverty line) people had been included in the list of BPL (below poverty line) families. Bharat Singh informed the house that more than 21 lakh were now included in the BPL families list.
"Even the Supreme Court has observed that while several deserving candidates are not able to make it to the BPL list, a few, who do not fall in this category, secure a place in the list. How can I deny this?'' he said while replying to a related query by Congress MLA Raghu Sharma.
"It is the gram sabha which takes the decision of including or omitting a family from the list. The gram sabha's role is questionable,'' he admitted. It was during the question hour that Sharma had wanted to know what was the figure of the BPL families in Kekdi constituency that he represented and if APL people were a part of that list.
The minister informed Sharma that 8,375 families were included in the BPL list in Kekdi. "The last survey was conducted in 2002 but the list could not be revised following a stay from the court. However, since there has been a provision to upgrade the list, necessary changes are being made. In 2002, only 17.36 lakh families of the state were included in the list while today, there are over 21 lakh families. Of these 30% are beneficiaries of various schemes,'' the minister informed the house.
Prior to this, the state tourism minister, Bina Kak, informed the house that the renovation of the Akbar Fort in Ajmer will begin soon. Replying to a query raised by Ajmer MLA, Anita Bhadel, Kak said that between 2000 and 2009, Rs 1.80 crore had been spent to renovate the fort. "The budget sanctioned for the renovation is Rs 3 crore and the work will soon begin,'' she said.
Kak added that the decision to relocate the government offices in the fort had been taken in 2007 and she has herself talked to the local authorities about it. "The CID branch office located there would be soon relocated to the plot provided by the Nagar Nigam. Other offices would also be relocated soon,'' she said.
When Bhadel raised the issue of poor transport system in Ajmer, Kak said, "The previous government had only made promises. We have already placed the order for 35 buses, which would soon be plying on Ajmer roads.''