BJP asks Govt. to make public terms set by World Bank

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 13. The BJP State unit has asked the TDP Government to come out with details about conditions laid down by the World Bank and finally set at rest the political controversy that it has yielded to the Bank's dictates.

Talking to presspersons here on Monday, the party spokesman, Mr. Parakala Prabhakar, said people were confused because the Congress and the Left parties were insisting that power tariff had been revised at the behest of the World Bank while the TDP was vehemently denying that any conditions existed. The Government should clear the air by coming out with a detailed statement on the issue.

Welcoming the Government's decision to spend an amount of Rs. 2,000 crores on poverty alleviation in Andhra Pradesh, he said the programme could be successful only when middlemen were eliminated as they were preventing the money from trickling down to the needy poor.

He suggested creation of a monitoring mechanism by the State Government to ensure that the Central funds actually reached the families living below the poverty line. Such a mechanism should actively involve non-governmental organisations, social workers and intellectuals. He said in reply to a question that the Planning Commission itself had pointed out lapses in implementation of poverty alleviation programmes in the State.

Criticising the manner in which the Congress (I)'s organisational elections were conducted on Sunday to choose its president, Mr. Prabhakar said reports about casting of fake ballots and scuffles near polling booths spoke volumes about the direction in which the party was heading. If this trend was not checked, people would lose faith in political parties and in the democratic process, he added.

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Section  : Southern States
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