Punjab parties criticise Centre’s move to withhold rural fund

Political parties in Punjab have hit out at the BJP-led Central government for its decision to withhold the State’s Rural Development Fund (RDF).

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Key-Points

Rural Development Fund (RDF) is the 3 per cent cess levied on the purchase or sale of agricultural produce under the Rural Development Fund Act, 1987 which is executed by Punjab Rural Development Board (PRDB) with the Chief Minister as its chairman.

The fund comes mainly from central government’s purchase agency, Food Corporation of India, which buys around 13 million tonnes of wheat and 16 million tonnes of paddy every year.

This fund is supposed to be used for the creation and maintenance of rural infrastructure in and outside mandis. But there have been charges in the past that it was diverted by the state for other purposes.

The central government, in a letter from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has observed that the fund is being diverted, and has asked the state government to explain how it is utilising this money.

It has also not made any provision for this fund in the cost sheet that it has sent to the state.

The state government is now claiming that it is being penalised for the protests against the farm laws that are raging in the state.