Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has convened a special meeting to discuss the SC/ST Sub-Plan issue with the SC/ST MPs, MLCs and MLAs from all political parties on January 27 at Pragathi Bhavan here.
The State Government has been implementing the SC/ST Sub Plan to ensure that funds allocated for these communities are not diverted. Recently, the Centre has issued guidelines for planning the Budget. It wanted the State Budgets to adhere to Revenue and Capital heads instead of planning and non-Planning heads of account. The State governments have to implement the guidelines issued by the Centre in this regard.
As some changes have to be made for the SC/ST Sub-Plan, the State government wants to have a detailed discussion on what are the changes to be made to the Sub Plan and how the proposed Budget should be planned to give more development to the SC/STs. Against this backdrop, the January 27 meeting at Pragathi Bhavan was planned. The CM is of the firm view that the suggestions, advices given by the SC/ST public representatives will be taken into consideration while preparing the SC/ST Sub Plan. (NSS)