Darjeeling MP and Union minister of state for drinking water and sanitation, SS Ahluwalia, has criticised the state government for not implementing the ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojna’, which seeks to provide Rs 5 lakh as health coverage for over 10 crore families.
Mr Ahluwalia also accused the administration of not cooperating with him in carrying out development programmes at the Hatighisa gram panchayat. Mr Ahluwalia had adopted the gram panchayat under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) on 21 November, 2014.
“Ayushman Bharat Yojna, which is also called Modicare, has been taken up to provide quality and affordable healthcare within a limit of Rs 5 lakh per family, and it will cover 10 crore families and nearly 50 crore people across the country. The scheme will help people immensely, but the Bengal government refused to implement it on grounds that the state already had its own medicare programme for the people.
The stand taken by the state government has ultimately deprived the people of the health benefits,” Mr Ahluwalia said. He alleged that the state government had been opposing the schemes taken up by the Centre tooth and nail ever since the NDA government came to power in 2014.
Mr Ahluawlia said he failed to get any response from the administration despite writing to know about the status of the pending projects of the central government. The MP visited his constituency last week for the first time after the Hills plunged into unrest and the shutdown began in June last year.
“I have not been getting any cooperation in pursuing projects under the SAGY. Since the adoption of the village, I was able to hold a meeting with the district magistrate only on one occasion, during the tenure of Anurag Srivastava,” he said. Mr Ahluwalia is the chairman of the District Infrastructure Scheme Advisory Committees (DISHA) as an MP.