Gandhinagar:
The Opposition Congress, on March 24, staged a walkout from the Assembly after it "failed" to get assurance from Tribal Welfare Minister Mangu Patel on restricting fund flows to NGOs from the Development Support Agency of Gujarat (DSAG).
DSAG has been constituted by the state government for the implementation of Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana, a part of Chief Minister Narendra Modi's 10-point programme for the development of tribals.
"The Congress was demanding an assurance from the Tribal Welfare Minister to stop fund flows to the so called NGOs from DSAG, and stop siphoning of funds in the name of tribal welfare," Leader of Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil said.
The Minister did not agree to our demand, and "failed" to give any assurance in the House after which Congress members staged a walkout, he said.
The Congress MLAs, while staging the walkout, shouted slogans like "DSAG ko bandh karo (close down DSAG)". Denying the Opposition allegations, Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel said "The Congress MLAs were not interested in the welfare of the poor and tribals. They were keen to watch the cricket match (between India and Australia) so they walked out of the House."
Mangu Patel, replying to the discussion on budgetary demands for his department, maintained the budgetary allocation for tribal development in last four year period has reached Rs 13,000 crore.
A provision of Rs 4,448 crore has been made in 2011-12 budget for tribals which was higher by Rs 744 crore from last year, he added.