SC, ST youth try to disrupt meet

HYDERABAD: Police foiled an attempt made by a group of slogan-shouting  Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe youth to disrupt a meeting held by the cabinet sub-committee at Ravindra Bharathi here on Saturday to receive suggestions from SCs and STs on providing legality to the SC, ST sub-plan. The youth, who charged towards the dais, were whisked away by the police before they could create trouble. They were demanding cancellation of 22 GOs diverting SC and ST funds and release of scholarships to students of the Hyderabad Public School. The meeting also witnessed the differences between Malas and Madigas which came to the fore with a section of the people shouting slogans eulogising BR Ambedkar and another section hailing Jagjivan Ram.K Nageswar, MLC, said SC and ST funds should not be diverted for other purposes. The sub-plan funds should be spent through nodal agency, he said and demanded social audit of every scheme.  Many leaders urged the government to bring in a strong law to implement the SC and ST Sub-plan effectively.  The state government constituted the cabinet sub-committee to take the opinions of SC and ST people on providing legality to SC and ST sub-plans. The committee has been touring districts to receive feedback from SC and ST people.As part it, the sub-committee, under the aegis of deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, received representations from SCs and STs from Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts at a meeting held at Ravindra Bharathi here on Saturday. Expressing concern over large-scale diversion of SC and ST sub-plan funds to other works, some leaders alleged that as much as Rs 25,000 crore had been diverted so far. An amount of Rs 180 crore of SC and ST sub-plan funds was diverted to 18 poll-going constituencies, they further alleged.Deputy chief minister and sub-committee chairman Damodar Rajanarasimha assured them that if the sub-committee failed to bring legality to SC and ST sub-plan, he would resign.Sub-committee members J Geetha Reddy, K Murali, G.Prasada Rao, P Satyanarayana and Y Pratap Reddy attended the meet.