Shyam Rajak and (right) Narendra Kumar Singh. Telegraph pictures

Patna, Feb. 24: The Centre is responsible for all your sufferings. The state has no role in them.

Finding hard to buy? But some ministers of Bihar want you to believe it.

Be it short supply of LPG cylinders, poor execution of housing schemes or traffic chaos on Gandhi Setu because of inordinate delay in its overhaul, they blamed the Centres for all your agonies. They did so in the House, where they are answerable to people.

During the election campaigning, the NDA leaders blamed the Centre for several things going wrong in Bihar. It appears the trend has crept into the proceedings of the House.

Urban development minister Prem Kumar, food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak and agriculture minister Narendra Singh today blamed the Centre or a central agency during their answers to questions raised inside the Assembly. Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav did the same yesterday.

When RJD MLA Lalit Yadav today raised the issue of shortage of LPG cylinders, Rajak pointed out it was because of the shortage of LPG dealers.

“According to norms, an LPG agent should cater to maximum 12,000 customers. Of the 207 agents of Indian Oil Corporation in Bihar, 50 cater to more than 12,000 customers,”

Rajak said, pointing out that on December 29, 2010 he had written to the Union ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas, urging it to increase the number of LPG agents.

“But the Union government has not responded,” he said.

The minister declared that his department did conduct raids whenever it received complaints on LPG cylinders being sold on black. “But the root of the problem is inadequate number of dealers,” he insisted in a reply to a question posed by RJD MLA Akhtarul Imam.

In reply to another question related to low procurement of foodgrain from farmers, the minister blamed another central agency — Food Corporation of India.

“The Food Corporation of India had committed to procure 3 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrain. But till now it has taken only about 47,000 metric tonnes of foodgrain from the farmers,” the minister pointed out.

The urban development minister of Bihar had another central agency to blame for the poor implementation of housing schemes for the poor in slum areas in Patna and Gaya. It was Hudco.

On Wednesday, the road construction minister blamed the Union ministry for surface transport for not clearing its proposal of Rs 167 crore to make a complete overhaul of Mahatma Gandhi Setu Bridge.