Hry MP Selja lends a helping hand to Punjab’s Gidderbaha

Gidderbaha town of Muktsar district in Punjab will be procuring an ambulance with ₹25 lakh grant given by Lok Sabha member from Ambala in Haryana, Kumari Selja.

The Congress leader has sanctioned the amount on her party colleague and Gidderbaha state legislator Amrinder Singh Raja Warring’s request under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). For the two states that are at loggerheads on various issues, the development has raised hackles of quite a few in Haryana, which has the BJP in power. Haryana health minister Anij Vij even accused Selja of not caring about Haryana and spending her discretionary funds to make her “relatives and friends” happy.

The MPLADS, which is fully funded by the Centre, entitles each MP to spend ₹5 crore on development works annually. Although, Lok Sabha members are to recommend works within their constituencies, there is a provision for recommending works amounting to ₹25 lakh in other constituencies to “promote national unity, harmony, and fraternity among the people”.

“I have sanctioned the amount on Warring’s request to help people of Gidderbaha get access to better emergency medical services,” said Selja.

On why he sought funds from the Haryana MP despite his own party being in power in Punjab, Warring said he has been making efforts to get maximum funds for better health facilities in his constituency. “Punjab has been facing financial crisis because of mismanagement by the previous Akali-BJP government. That’s why I am trying to get funds for development,” said Warring.

The letter in possession of Hindustan Times revealed that the Ambala DC transferred the funds to the Muktsar district administration in March 2018. The money was later issued to the SMO of the Gidderbaha civil hospital to purchase medical equipment.