observed.

Inadequate healtchare facilities also came under scrutiny with the committee taking strong note of the delay in acting on its recommedation for at least one medical college each in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

The ministry also came in for criticism with the committee noting that the action taken replies on its report in August last year and minister’s report on the status of implementation of the recommendations in the report were “identical”. “If the statement of the minister laid after nearly four months of the action taken replies sent by the ministry to the secretariat is a mere reproduction of the ATR, it would defeat the spirit underlying the chairman’s direction,” said Sushma Swaraj, chairperson of the standing committee.