HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leader and MLC T. Jeevan Reddy accused the state government of diverting funds meant for the welfare of SCs and STs. He said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and the BRS had cheated Dalits, SCs, STs and unemployed youth.
“When the Congress was in power, we introduced the SC sub-plan and ST sub-plan to allocate funds to provide basic facilities and other funds for the community. After the BRS came to power, the Chief Minister modified it to SC Development Fund and ST Development Fund,” Jeevan Reddy said.
"The government must allocate and utilise the funds every year. It must make provisions to carry forward the remaining funds, in addition to new allocations for SC and STs in the Budget. However, the state government nominally uses the funds and has made a clause to carry forward the remaining funds, without allocating fresh funds," he added.
In 2020-22, the government had forwarded ₹30,000 crores for SC welfare and ₹20,000 crores for STs — which meant that the money had not been used. The government failed to provide houses under the double-bedroom housing scheme. Had the government provided ₹1 lakh for Dalits, they might have constructed houses, he said.
