CPI(M) bosses in Delhi have been lecturing the UPA Government on increasing funding of sub-plans meant to help the minorities (Muslims), but they seem to have forgotten to check the performance of the party’s own government in West Bengal.In West Bengal’s total Plan outlay of Rs 8,374 crore for 2006-07, the Minorities Development Department’s allocation is a mere Rs 18 crore. And as the year draws to a close, the government is yet to spend a big chunk of this outlay.The state government has also found fault in the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee report on the status of minorities. The panel has stated the condition of Muslims as very poor in the state, which has been under Left Front rule for 30 years. According to CPI(M) leaders here, the Sachar Committee relied heavily on data furnished by non-governmental organisations and not the government. To counter it, the government plans to commission the Indian Statistical Institute to study the same issue.Meanwhile, the Minorities Development Department, headed by a CPI(M) minister, has already frittered away funds allocated for a Rs 4-crore institute of higher education for Muslims.The project, to come up at Gorachand Road near Park Circus, is to have a nurses’ training institute, a primary-teachers’ training institute and a management institute. The department had proposed the project, following which Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta had outlined the funding in the budget for 2006-07.An inter-departmental rivalry over the land stalled work, with the Higher Education Department, which owns it, not keen to hand it over to the Minority Development Department.The files were galvanised into action only a month ago, following the release of the Sachar report. Finally, last month, the Higher Education Department handed over the land, around 11 bighas (3.5 acres) to the Land Acquisition Department.Abdus Sattar, minister in charge, said, “We have not received possession of the land yet. We have already spent the earmarked funds on other things, but we shall put up the proposal again in the coming budget.” The state budget will be placed on March 16.Md Salim, CPI(M) member of Parliament and former minister of the department, told The Indian Express: “The state government could not complete the project because no one pursued it.”Salim said the matter should have proceeded smoothly, considering that two government departments are involved. “We had the project when I was the minister,” said Salim. “But since I have quit, I do not wish to comment.”Salim said the plan was prepared three years ago, but the land belonged to the Higher Education Department, which did not want to part with it.
