Sharad Pawar Highlights Misallocation of Tribal Welfare Funds

Sharad Pawar criticizes the government's failure to effectively utilize funds for tribal welfare. He accuses political interests of compromising these allocations and discloses an analysis detailing budget provisions and expenditures for tribals in Maharashtra. Pawar urges a deep investigation into this issue through a new booklet.

Sharad Pawar, the NCP (SP) chief, criticized the ineffective use of government-allocated funds for tribal welfare. On Monday, he alleged that these funds are often compromised due to the ruling parties' political interests.

In a post on X, Pawar stated that when he was the chief minister, he ensured 9 percent of Maharashtra's state budget was allocated for tribal development. However, he lamented that the funds earmarked for this purpose frequently remain unspent, which he described as tragic.

To address this ongoing issue, Pawar released a booklet developed by the Tribal Development Centre of the Yashwantrao Chavan Centre. The publication offers an in-depth analysis of the budgetary provisions and actual expenditure for tribal communities in the 2024-25 state budget. He emphasized that the intent behind the booklet is to investigate the reasons behind the misallocation.

(With inputs from agencies.)