Congress, BSP slam Akhilesh government for downsizing women's commission budget

The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday slammed the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh for downsizing the budget allocation for state women's commission when it has money for buying two seven-seater Mercedes cars and two Land Cruiser SUVs.

The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday slammed the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh for downsizing the budget allocation for state women's commission when it has money for buying two seven-seater Mercedes cars and two Land Cruiser SUVs.

"We condemn this move. When BSP was in power, it had started welfare scheme for the poor, Dalits and downtrodden," BSP chief Mayawati said in New Delhi.

"This is the tragedy of our time. Life of a woman is considered lower than the value of a bicycle," Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury said.

A Right to Information (RTI) question posed by social activist Urvashi Sharma revealed that in the last three years, the Samajwadi Party government has slashed the budgetary allocations made to the state women's commission.

The state government informed the RTI activist that between 2011-12 and 2013-14, the budget of the women's panel was cut by over 85%.

In 2011-12, the commission got Rs.5.1 crore in financial grants and this went down to Rs.4.16 crore, of which Rs.3.9 crore was spent.