State govt committed to welfare of Dalits: Audimulapu Suresh

Vijayawada: The State government is committed to the upliftment of Dalits and implementation of various welfare schemes to improve their living standards, said Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Audimulapu Suresh.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, he said 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 in a section of the 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 recalled that it was the TDP chief who made derogatory comments like 'who would wish to be born in the SC community'?

The YSRCP government was spending around 25 per cent of funds for Dalits in every scheme, he said. Drawing a parallel between the previous TDP regime and YSRCP, he explained that the TDP has spent Rs 33,625 crore for SCs between 2014 and 19. In the last three-and-a-half years, the YSRCP has spent Rs 48,899 crore for SC welfare, which means Rs 15,274 crore (45.4 percent) was additionally spent.

For STs, the TDP has spent Rs 12,487 crore during its five-year tenure, while YSRCP has spent Rs 15,589 crore, which means Rs 3,101 crore was additionally spent for STs welfare, he said.

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 imposed by the government during its three-and-a-half years rule.

Reacting on Pawan Kalyan's meeting on sub-plan, he said that the Jana Sena chief was acting as per the script given to him by N Chandrababu Naidu and should know the facts and figures before making further remarks.