Govt committed to Dalit welfare

PNS|Vijayawada

Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Adimulapu Suresh has said that the government was committed to the uplift of Dalits and implementation of various welfare schemes to improve their living standards.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, he said that the State government’s commitment in this regard was proved by the extension of SC & ST sub-plan for another 10 years. Rubbishing the comments published by a section of media, he said that yellow media was spreading false propaganda on the extension of SC & ST sub-plan to protect the vested interests of TDP and creating confusion among the castes.

He also pointed that it was the TDP chief who made derogatory comments like, ‘who would wish to be born in the SC community’. “What justice will he do for the Dalits? The YSRCP government is spending around 25 percent of the funds for Dalits in every scheme,” he said.

Drawing a parallel between the previous TDP and YSRCP governments, he explained that TDP spent Rs 33,625 crore for the SCs during the period 2014-19. “Meanwhile, in the past three-and-a-half years, the YSRCP has spent Rs 48,899 crore for SC welfare, which means that Rs 15,274 crore (45.4 percent) was additionally spent.

“For the STs, TDP spent Rs 12,487 crore during its five-year tenure, while YSRCP has spent Rs 15,589 crore (25 percent) already, which means that Rs 3,101 crore was additionally spent for STs’ welfare.

The YSRCP government is ready to face any kind of auditing or scrutiny on the facts relating to the welfare of Dalits,” he said, and rubbished the remarks of vernacular media of Rs 20,000-crore cut being imposed by the government during its three-and-a-half-year rule. Reacting on Pawan Kalyan’s meeting on sub-plan, he said that the Jana Sena chief was acting according to the script given by Chandrababu Naidu and that he should know the facts and figures before making further remarks.