Admitting that diversion of funds meant for SC/ST welfare to Commonwealth Games (CWG) projects by the Delhi government was wrong, home minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday said efforts would be made to bring back the `678.91 crores back to the welfare fund.
“In my view prima facie using `678.91 crores out of Schedule Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) to contribute for CWG appears to be wrong,” Mr Chidambaram said in Rajya Sabha, when members sought clarification on the issue. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also present in the House. The minister also informed the House that the Planning Commission has constituted a committee headed by Narendra Jadhav to re-examine how the guidelines of the Plan panel on the SCSP Tribal Sub-Plan can be implemented properly. The minister also said that of the two categories of the welfare fund, divisible and indivisible, diversion of the fund from indivisible category has been happening in many states.
Mr Chidambaram said of the indivisible category of SCSP fund, `678.91 crores of the total fund of `7,100 crores has been contributed to the CWG-related projects by the Delhi government.
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Security meet today
Age Correspondent
New Delhi
Union home minister P. Chidambaram will hold a high-level meeting on Wednesday to take stock of the security measures being put in place for the Commonwealth Games beginning on October 3.
Delhi police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal is expected to give a presentation on the deployment of security personnel, traffic management and contingency plan for emergency during the meeting. The meeting will be attended by top officials of different security agencies also. Besides, government has also decided to enhance security of Delhi-Lahore bus service and the Thar Express.