Denied Rs. 4,000 crore after promise, the Dalits will turn their grouse into an assembly-byelection issue against the Akalis in Moga. The Chamar Mahan Sabha has charged the Punjab's ruling alliance with ignoring the problems of the Scheduled Castes and not implementing the welfare schemes. "The state government promised during the last state election to allocate Rs. 4,000 crore to the Scheduled Castes sub plan for the welfare of the Dalits," said sabha president Paramjit Singh Kainth. "However, it is yet to use even a penny out of this scheme for their welfare "

The government had used the promise as a bait to get Dalit votes, said Kainth, adding that it had not activated high-power vigilance and monitoring committees to look into atrocities against members of the Scheduled Castes. "They have not called the meeting even once," said Kainth. The chairman of this team is the chief minister himself, and the members are legislator of various parties.

The sabha has demanded a white paper on the issues of inactive committees. "The Akalis are biased against the SC community," said Kainth. "This attitude should change, if they want Dalit votes in the Moga byelection. The SC community has more than 35% share in the state's total voting population."