THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In an apparent effort to wriggle out of the embarrassment related to the funding of women’s wall, the state government on Friday said it has not mentioned anywhere that Rs 50 crore would be spent for the event.
A press note issued by the Chief Minister said the state government would not spend a single paisa from the public exchequer for this purpose and the reports appearing in a section of media on those lines were false and misleading. In the affidavit filed in the High Court, which is a public document, the state government has not mentioned it would be spending public money for this.
In fact, it informed the court during the 2018-19 budget, the state has announced it would hold campaigns across the state for women’s empowerment and welfare of women, said the note.
In the affidavit, the state government also mentioned a sum of Rs 50 crore has been earmarked to prevent atrocities against women, for which creating awareness is essential along with public campaigns. The campaign would be held under the aegis of the Women and Child Development Department. And the Women’s Wall is one such public campaign.
But the campaigns that the state government was diverting flood relief fund for this purpose are totally misleading.
And the state government would not spend a single penny from the Rs 50 crore set aside for the women’s empowerment campaigns, said the Chief Minister’s press note. The expense for holding the Women’s wall has to be borne by the organisations taking the lead to hold the event, he said.
The stance of the state government in this issue was also vindicated in the High Court, which is evident from the High Court order on Thursday. The court had made it clear it would not interfere in the policy-related affair of the government taking note of the explanation submitted by the state, he said.