BJP govt in K'taka has betrayed SC/STs by diverting over Rs 7K-cr funds for infra work: Siddaramaiah

Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah on Thursday accused the BJP government in the state of having ”betrayed” dalits and scheduled tribes, by diverting the funds of Rs 7,885 crore meant for schedule caste sub plan (SCSP) and tribal sub plan (TSP), for the infrastructure projects.

The Congress leader alleged that the government has violated the provisions of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, by diverting the amount for infrastructure development.

”Rs 26,695.64 crore was allocated for the welfare of SCs and STs under SCP-TSP act for the year 2021-22. The government has violated the provisions of the act to divert Rs 7,885 crores for the infrastructure development. This is against the law and I urge the CM of Karnataka to take action against the officers who have violated these provisions,” Siddaramaiah said in a statement.

According to the SCP-TSP Act, which was enacted and implemented by the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah, 24.1 per cent of the budget has to be spent on welfare of SCs and STs. The unused funds should be carried over and spent during the next financial year.

If the funds allocated for a specific purpose under this act is not used for that purpose, the concerned officer can be punished as per the act.

Noting that Section 3 of SCSP-TSP act has laid out criteria that has to be adopted to allocate State resources, the former Chief Minister said, this has prescribed conditions for ‘exempted expenditure’ which means expenditure exempted from the applicability of this act – exempted expenditure includes salary, salary Grant-in-aid, pension, administrative expenditure, principal repayment and interest payment on account of State government undertakings.

”Rs 7885.32 crore of the total funds allocated to SCSP-TSP funds in four years between 2018-21 were spent on irrigation, urban development and RDPR infrastructure projects. This has reduced the funds for welfare schemes for SCs and STs,” he said.

Though there are provisions to allocate some amount for general infrastructure projects, the quantum of funds diverted is huge and is against the law, he added.

Pointing out that in 2012-13, only Rs 7,200 crore was allocated to welfare of SCs and STs, and this was increased to Rs 15,832 crore by 2014-15 and to Rs 29,691 crore in the 2018 February budget, Siddaramaiah said, but since BJP came to power, the funds for SCSP-TSP are reduced, though the budget have increased.