Budgetary share for Dalits slashed: Udit Raj

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 1

The Delhi Government has cut the funds constitutionally provided to Dalits, said North Delhi MP Udit Raj. 

He said that the scheduled castes have been denied their shares to the extent of Rs 2,746 crore in the Budget passed by the House of Delhi Legislative Assembly. The total Budget estimate is Rs 46,600 crore for the financial year 2016-17 and out of which Rs 20,600 crore is plan Budget. 

According to population of scheduled castes in Delhi, the allocation should have been Rs 3,460 crore, but the actual outlay is Rs 715.17 crore which is even less than Rs 92.15 crore from the previous year. Thus, it is a denial of almost 80 per cent of the funds. The scheduled castes are bereft of housing, sanitation, water, employment and other opportunities. Their low share in Budget shows that the Aam Aadmi Party has nothing to do with common people, Udit Raj said. 

Addressing a conference, he said that the government has been denying the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) funds. The allocation is not only dismal, whatever is kept aside even that is not being spent. In the financial year 2014-15, 23 per cent fund remained unspent. The Budget estimate for the financial year 2014-15 was Rs 709.87 crore but only Rs 545.96 crore was spent which means a sum of Rs 163.91 crore has lapsed. Thus, the total denial of SCSP in the last six years is Rs 17,298.53 crore, Udit Raj said.