BENGALURU: The cabinet meeting on Thursday witnessed a spat between Social Welfare Minister Dr HC Mahadevappa and energy minister K J George over the diversion of SCSP/TSP grants to fund the guarantees schemes.
Mahadevappa contended that although the energy department has been implementing ‘Gruha Jyothi’ it ignored energisation of borewells for SC/ST beneficiaries under ‘Ganga Kalyana Yojana’ attributing it to scarcity of funds. Mahadevappa questioned George about the delay in energising the borewells. He said the corporations concerned had disbursed Rs 75,000 each for every borewell.
George, however, said the unit cost needs to be enhanced. “Where the money meant under SCSP/TSP proportional to the population of the communities”, Mahadevappa asked in high tone. He also threatened to stage a walkout but Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pacified him. Later, it was decided that the energy department would send a fresh proposal to the social welfare department to enhance the unit cost.