Agartala: Tripura Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Animesh Debbarma on Friday took a swipe at senior BJP leader and Minister Ratan Lal Nath for his “hypocrite” jibe on the opposition parties primarily TIPRA Motha.
Nath, reportedly, termed the opposition party leaders “hypocrites” for misleading the masses on the budgetary allocations made for the indigenous tribal population.
Briefing the media at his chamber in Tripura Legislative Assembly, Debbarma said, “The minister had ample scope to speak in the state assembly when the whole opposition bench was making its point loud and clear. We have categorically said that the funds allocated for the TTAADC (Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council) areas and the tribal welfare are very negligible if compared to the whole size of the budget and this could be seen as an act of financial discrimination towards the autonomous body. At that point of time, no one from the treasury bench gave any valid response.”
All of a sudden, he said, the minister appears in a press conference at the BJP state headquarters and says that 39.81 percent of the total budget will be spent for the tribal areas.
“The budget document, on the other hand, does not speak the same language. The budget sum up document states that only 3.91 percent of the total budget is earmarked for the welfare of the tribal people. He, however, explained that the funds allocated for the tribal areas are under Tribal Sub Plan (A subsidiary budget plan for the government schemes under various departments exclusively for the tribal areas). The TTAADC was formed in the year 1985 with the constitutional mandate so that the interests of the tribal people are served. The funds meant for tribal people should directly be handed over to the ADC administration so that it could utilise it for the people. But, what we have seen in this budget is that out of the more than 27,000 crore budget only 672 crore is being directly given to the TTAADC. Percentage wise, it is only 2.7 percent of the state budget goes to ADC,” added Debbarma.
According to Debbarma, most of the funds released directly to the TTAADC are spent on unproductive expenses such as payment of salaries.
“Rs 208 crore is for the salary of state government employees in deputation posting with the TTAADC. The TTAADC has its own employees as well. The total expenditure on the salaries stands at 580 crore per annum. Around 92 crore is left for the development works,” Debbarma explained.
Debbarma also alleged that the Chief Minister avoided speaking anything on the cut motions raised by the opposition parties. “The Chief Minister gave a political statement avoiding any direct question. The minister who called us hypocrites also did not show the courage to speak at the House because whatever we discuss is the House gets recorded and once spoken officially it could not be retracted,” Debbarma added.
Referring to the last year’s CAG report, he said, “More than Rs 263 crore is stuck because the government could not give utilisation certificates. Apart from that, more than 800 crore is left in the accounts of Drawing and Dispatch Officers. If this is the state of affairs in the finance department how development will take place. More than 15 percent of the funds allocated for the tribal welfare for the financial year 2020-21 alone.”
Demanding an inquiry, Debbarma said the government should initiate an inquiry to find out where the money is going.
Earlier, addressing a press conference at Tripura BJP headquarters on Wednesday afternoon, Nath stated that the total net outlay of this year’s budget is Rs 27,654.44 crore. Out of this, Rs 13,568.02 crore is earmarked for various unproductive expenses such as repayment of loans, salaries, pensions etc. and rest of the Rs 14,086.42 crore has been kept for development works.
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“A whopping share of Rs 5,608.72 crore of the budget is kept for the tribal sub-plan development which is 39.81% of the total budget,” he said.
Nath also alleged that the opposition was trying to mislead the common masses by spreading misinformation on the budget.
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