The Madhya Pradesh government is diverting a portion of funds earmarked this year for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to develop religious sites and museums, and to fund cow welfare, the Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday.

Out of Rs 252 crore set aside by the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party government for cow welfare, Rs 95.76 crore has been allocated from sub-plans for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that are fully funded by the Centre.

Similarly, nearly half of the Rs 109 crore set aside for the development of six religious sites comes from the same sub-plans, the Hindustan Times reported, citing documents and government officials.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified state finance department official as saying that the diversion of funds was an exceptional case. The official also claimed that people from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will also benefit from this spending.

“Under the budgetary system, there is no prohibition on transferring the SC/ST sub-plan money for general sub-plan as per requirement,” the official said, according to the Hindustan Times.

The sub-plan for Scheduled Tribes was introduced in 1974, while the one for Scheduled Castes was introduced in 1979. These measures are a way of implementing Article 46 of the Constitution, which requires states to promote education and the economic interests of the weaker sections of society.

Earlier this month, reports emerged that the Congress government in Karnataka was diverting funds from the state’s Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes sub-plans to fund schemes under the party’s “five guarantees”. The guarantees included Rs 2,000 each month to women heads of families and 200 units of free electricity to all households.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes issued a notice to the Karnataka government in connection with the matter on July 10.