Khurhid shoots off letter to Nitish

NEW DELHI: Apparently countering Nitish Kumar's allegations that the Centre was not paying attention to the needs of minorities in poll-bound Bihar, Union Minister Salman Khurshid has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister claiming that a key minority scheme has suffered a "setback" due to lack of prompt action by his government.

"District plans for minority concentrated districts (MCD) of Bihar have already been considered in five meetings of this ministry, but plans for only Rs 240.50 crore could be approved even after two years of launching of the programme as the proposals made in the district plan were not found to be in consonance with the guidelines of Multi Sectoral Development Plans," Khurshid said in a letter to Kumar.

The letter pointed out "the funds received by the Bihar government from the Ministry of Minority Affairs in February, 2009 were released by the state government to the Minority Concentrated Districts after eight months.

"The ministry is yet to receive utilisation certificates and proposals for release of second instalment for the projects sanctioned under MsDP.......these have given a set back to the implementation of the programme."

The move comes days after Kumar blamed Congress for the plight of the minority community of the country and alleged that the Centre had rejected the state government's proposal for central grants for improving educational infrastructure in Muslim dominated Kishanganj district of Bihar.

Reacting sharply to it, the state unit of Congress had immediately challenged Kumar to participate in a public debate with the party on central assistance in the state.