Gandhinagar, Feb 26 (PTI) Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the Gujarat Assembly on Thursday, alleging poor budgetary allocations for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and minorities, as well as underutilisation of funds.
The Opposition began a protest while Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Manisha Vakil was replying to questions regarding grants allocated to 10 boards and corporations under her department.
Shailesh Parmar of Congress questioned the rationale behind the fund allocation.
“Is the allocation done on the basis of population or the economic condition of the applicant?” he asked. Communities comprising around 68 per cent of Gujarat’s population are receiving relatively lower allocations, he claimed.
In response, Vakil presented figures of grants utilised over the past five years by boards and corporations under her department.
She said Rs 332.29 crore was utilised in 2021-22, Rs 467.27 crore the next year, Rs 432.02 crore in 2023-24, Rs 640.68 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 243.99 crore until January in the current fiscal, totalling Rs 2,116.25 crore.
Apart from these corporations, which provide loans to the beneficiaries, the department’s overall allocation for SC-related schemes exceeded Rs 7,000 crore, the minister said.
Congress MLA Amit Chavda alleged that substantial portions of allocated funds remained unspent. He claimed that in 2024, about 28 per cent of the allocation for the Safai Kamdar Development Corporation remained unutilised.
He alleged that 40 per cent of funds allocated for the Gujarat Minority Finance and Development Corporation, 35 per cent for the Gujarat Backward Classes Development Corporation, 58 per cent for the Thakor and Koli Vikas Nigam and 50 per cent for the Gujarat Gopalak Vikas Nigam were unspent.
“First of all, allocations are low in proportion to population, and even then, up to 50 per cent remains unutilised. What are the criteria for allocation, and why does so much funds remain unspent?” he asked.
Vakil said the figures cited by her were up to December and that expenditure typically increased in the last months of the financial year.
She said that against a provision of Rs 101.10 crore in 2024-25 for Thakor and Koli Vikas Nigam, Rs 86.14 crore had been spent up to December, while in 2025-26, against a grant of Rs 101.65 crore, Rs 23.69 crore had been spent so far.
The minister attributed unspent amounts to incomplete documentation, absence of property cards, KYC-related issues and discrepancies in applications.
When Parmar insisted that Vakil give a clear reply to his original question regarding the criteria adopted for fund allocation, Vakil reiterated that apart from the funds given to these boards and corporations, the department spends a substantial budget for the backward classes.
As exchanges grew heated, Speaker Chaudhary cautioned members against interrupting the minister mid-reply and reminded Congress MLAs that supplementary questions could only be asked after the response was complete.
Unhappy with Vakil’s answers, all 12 Congress MLAs walked out of the House, claiming the government was not providing clear answers and also alleged that the allocations for SCs, OBCs and minorities were inadequate.
After the walkout, Agriculture Minister Jitu Vaghani accused the Opposition of violating assembly rules by repeatedly standing up without permission and interrupting the minister.
Forest and Environment Minister Arjun Modhwadia alleged that the opposition staged the walkout to prevent the full financial details from being placed on record and termed it an attempt to gain publicity.
BJP MLA Ramanbhai Vora slammed the Congress for trying to gain “cheap publicity”.
Speaker Chaudhary said members must seek permission before speaking and cannot insist that a minister provide a specific type of reply. He said Question Hour is crucial for addressing public issues and condemned the walkout.
“I formally reprimand the Congress members for their conduct,” he said, adding that by walking out, they had also forfeited the opportunity to raise other questions listed by their party.
The Congress MLAs later returned to participate in the discussion on the Budget. PTI PJT PD NR
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