Opposition walks out over govt inaction

​Hyderabad: Opposition Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) staged a walkout from the Assembly on Friday alleging that the government had failed to give a timeframe to formulate the rules to implement SC/ST sub plan and constitute a committee under the chairmanship of Chief Minister to monitor the implementation of the Act.

Reacting to the walkout, SC Welfare Minister G Jagadish Reddy said the Opposition parties had staged walkout on frivolous grounds.

He said the government had clearly stated that it was committed to implement the Act and would soon frame the rules and that it would bring a Bill to increase the reservation for STs in the Assembly shortly and that it would examine the demand to constitute a committee consisting of SC and ST MLAs to review the implementation of the SC/ST sub plan.

Earlier in his statement, the Minister said about 85 per cent of people in the State belonged to SC, ST, BC and Minorities.

The Congress and TDP which were in power in undivided Andhra Pradesh for 32 years adopted a mechanical attitude towards these sections, he said, adding that from 1983 to 2014, in Telangana region, about 39, 798 acres of land was distributed to 32,800 persons.

Though the land distribution was very much on the records, it did not serve the original purpose.

After formation of Telangana State, 3,671 Dalits were given three acres of cultivable land per family. The total cultivable land thus distributed was to a tune of 9,663 acres.

While the Congress had spent Rs 2.65 crore in 16 years and the TDP Rs 71.01 crore in 16 years, the Telangana government spent Rs 405.66 crore in the last two-and-a-half years, he added.

In addition, the government was providing bore-well, power connection and even a motor to enable the beneficiary to start the farming activity.

The government was also giving financial assistance to the beneficiary of the first crop, the Minister said. The State government had taken several other measures for the sociological and economical wellbeing of the SC/ST farmers.

He said since social transformation was possible only through education, the government had decided to encourage more and more residential education institutions.

The government had also increased overseas scholarships for the SC/ST students from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, he said.

He also listed various other welfare schemes like Kalyan Lakshmi, Programme for Rapid Incubation of Dalit Entrepreneurs (TS PRIDE) under which loans on nominal interest rate of 25 paise were given to small units, he added.

Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka of Congress said the government had failed to adopt the SC and ST Sub Plan Act and it had failed to spend the money allocated in the budget.

Out of Rs 750 crore allocated in 2014-15 only Rs 360 crore had been spent and the balance amount could not be carried forward as the government had not yet framed the rules, he said.

Telugu Desam legislator S Venkata Viraiah said the government did not provide water to about 300 to 400 acres of land of Dalits. BJP MLA NVSS Prabhakar said Banjara Bhavan for STs and Arundhathi Bhavan for the SCs were not constructed.

Congress legislator Sampath Kumar said there was ambiguity in the statistics provided by the government about the beneficiaries of various SC and ST schemes.