Deccan Chronicle: Lucknow: Wednesday, July 16, 2014.
Misplaced
priorities seem to be becoming the bane of the Akhilesh Yadav government in
Uttar Pradesh.
A query by a
RTI activist in Lucknow has revealed that while the state government is short
on funds for the State Women’s Commission it has ample funds to purchase two
seven-seater Mercedes cars and two Land Cruisers.
The question
put up by social activist Urvashi Sharma had yielded the information that since
the past three years, the state has slashed the budgetary allocations made to
the state women’s panel.
The state
government admitted that between 2011-12 and 2013-14, the budget of the women’s
panel was cut by over 85 percent.
In 2011-12,
the commission got Rs 5.1 crore in financial grants which went down to Rs 4.16,
crore of which Rs 3.9 crore was spent.
In 2013-14,
the allocation was further slashed to a mere Rs 75 lakh.
“I am amazed
at the reduction in funds for the women’s panel more so, at a time when crime
against women in UP is increasing rapidly,” Ms Sharma said. She further pointed
out that if the state was facing funds
crunch, then what explains the need for Mercedes and Land Cruisers.
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