Gujarat govt used funds for SC/ST to make film on PM’s hometown: opposition MLAs

The Gujarat government made a film on PM Modi’s native place Vadnagar and Sardar Patel’s tallest statue, using government funds meant for welfare of scheduled castes (SC) and scheduled tribes (ST), the state’s opposition MLAs alleged on Tuesday.

Senior Congress MLAs and independent MLA Jignesh Mevani addressed a press conference in Gandhinagar and demanded a special act to monitor proper utilisation of budget grants for SC/ST subplans.

In a joint press conference, MLA from Dasada, Naushad Solanki said, “I had proposed a private member bill titled as the Gujarat SC Subplan and Tribal Subplan (Planning allocation and utilisation of financial resources) Bill, 2018 in last Assembly.

This bill would make state machinery responsible to utilise the SC/ST subplans grants. The bill suggests to form a state level council under CM’s chair to monitor proper planning, allocation and utilisation of budget grants for suppressed classes of the society.”

Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani said, “This government spent the public funds after publicity purpose but that was allocated for execution of welfare schemes of SC ST communities. The grants were allocated for Dalits in rural areas but are utilised for common utility projects for all.”

Senior MLA from Congress Dr Anil Joshiyara said, the SC/ST subplan grants should be audited separately by the audit agency, while the deputy leader of opposition Shailesh Parmar said that he had invited all the SC and ST MLAs in Gujarat but BJP MLAs did not turn up because of pressure from their political peers.

The Gujarat government trashed all the allegations from opposition MLAs and said that Congress started shedding crocodile tears as the Lok Sabha polls were coming closer. Minister for tribal welfare Ganpatsinh Vasava addressed a press conference later and said, “Congress is trying to politicise the issue, otherwise state government has two separate councils for SC and ST community and the CM is the chairman of the council.”

“While their bill demands the single council under the chair of CM. Gujarat government ruled by BJP has given priority to SC ST welfare and one can compare situation of the deprived communities before and after BJP rule.”