By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) along with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left forced adjournment of the Rajya Sabha Thursday expressing dissatisfaction over Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s response to the issue of diversion of Scheduled Castes welfare funds for the Commonwealth Games.
The BSP, BJP and Left members said that the minister had not given a clear answer to information about diversion of funds. While the BSP members went to the well of the house shouting slogans, the BJP and Left members protested from their seats.
BJP leader S.S. Ahluwalia said the minister had read out a letter sent to the Lok Sabha secretariat on Aug 17 but the copies of the document were not available to members.
Responding to the issue which was raised by the members earlier in the day, Chidambaram said that certain portions from the “indivisible fund” meant for welfare of all sections including Scheduled Castes had been used for Commonwealth Games projects.
He said the Planning Commission guidelines specified that funds for Scheduled Castes (SC) welfare were to be allocated in proportion to their population.
Pointing out that 16.9 percent of Delhi’s population belonged to SC community as per the 2001 census, he said that funds meant for the community had been divided into two heads – divisible and indivisible.
Chidambaram said that divisible funds flowed directly for construction of facilities such as hostels and vocational training while indivisible funds were not specifically marked for any category but its benefits also flowed to the community.
He said the indivisible funds were used for infrastructure projects besides hospitals and street lighting.
Soon after the minister finished reading, BSP, BJP and Left members were on their feet saying that they should be heard.
Left members said they wanted a reply from the minister on the issue of diversion of funds and not reading from a letter.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat later told reporters that the minister has to give an answer and not read out from a letter.
“He has admitted to diversion of funds. The so-called indivisible fund has been cooked up to get out of this,” she said.
Karat said the issue of diversion of funds to Commonwealth Games projects will be raised in the house Friday also.
Following adjournment, the house could not take up the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010, which was scheduled for discussion.