Punjab Rajya Sabha MP calls upon PM to release pending Rural Development Fund

Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney on Friday appealed to all Members of Parliament from Punjab to call upon the Prime Minister for requesting his intervention to release the pending Rural Development Fund (RDF) of Rs 4,200 crore to Punjab.

The AAP MP said that this issue is relating to Punjab's food grain procurement, farmers and development of rural areas and should not be viewed from a political angle.

He clarified that since several decades, Punjab has been getting three per cent Rural Development Fund and three per cent market fee as Punjab is a non-decentralized procurement state which contributes 100 per cent of the food grains procurement in the central pool.

A delegation of MPs both from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha irrespective of the party should call on the Prime Minister to appeal to him for his intervention and release of pending Rural Development Fund of Rs 4,200 crore to Punjab, he stated.

Last year, he took up the issue with the Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution and he was told that Punjab must pass an Act in the Assembly for RDF to be utilized specifically for rural development and the respective Act was passed by the state Assembly on July 28, 2022.

Now, there should not be any technical problem in releasing the funds.

Punjab is the food bowl of India and Punjabi farmers resides in its villages and therefore rural development is critical for the inclusive development of Punjab and to ensure food security of the nation.