2025-26 Budget on Feb 19: Rajasthan govt didn’t release Rs 1500 cr allocated in last budget for Tribal districts

TSP areas in Rajasthan include eight districts of which Dungarpur Banswara and Pratapgarh are dominated by tribals while Udaipur, Sirohi, Rajsamand, Pali and Chittorgarh have a sizable tribal population.

The TSP area was created to specifically address the developmental needs of the tribals in Rajasthan who are often neglected. Every year a special budget is allotted to the TSP area.

Talking to The Indian Express, Rajasthan Cabinet Minister of Tribal Regional Development Babulal Kharadi accepted that there has been a delay in releasing the fund.

“Due to some issues, the fund of Rs 1500 crore is yet to be released by the treasury. They have recently asked for the suggestion to release the fund. We have written to the government to allocate the funds as early as possible,” Kharadi said.

When asked if any development works in the tribal areas were stopped due to fund issues, the minister said that the government was clearing the bills and working in the tribal region as per requirement.

The issue was raised by the ST Morcha of the ruling BJP. Narayan Meena, President of ST Morcha, has written to the government requesting release of the fund for the development works in the tribal region.

Bhartiya Adivasi Party MLAs and MPs have also been raising the issue. Thavar Chand Damor, BAP MLA from Dhariawad, claimed that contractors have stopped the ongoing works in the tribal areas after their earlier bills were not cleared.

“The construction of woads, anicuts and bridges in the tribal region has been affected. The State government started Ma Badi Kendras to provide primary education to the students in the region but more than 70% of Ma Badi Endras have no building. There are complaints that 50 per cent of the tribal hostels in the TSP area have leaking roofs. What happened to the promises made by the BJP government for the development of tribal areas?” Damor sought to know.

BAP leader and Banswara MP Rajkumar Roat questioned the intention of the BJP government in allocating funds in the 2024-25 budget and not releasing it. “If the government is not releasing the funds, what’s the point in the budget allocation? A new budget session will start in less than 10 days and not a single rupee allocated in the last budget was released so far,” Roat pointed out.