FCG president Padmanabha Reddy said party workers collected Rs 2 to 3 lakh to include a name in the Dalita Bandhu list.
Forum for Good Governance (FGG) president M Padmanabha Reddy today wrote a letter to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy mentioning the misuse of Dalita Bandhu funds, and requested an evaluation of the scheme.
He said, "Dalita Bandhu was introduced in Telangana to enhance financial assistance to Scheduled Caste (SC) households in a phased manner for the establishment of income-generating assets without involving bank loans. The scheme was planned to be implemented in 118 Assembly constituencies. The suggested activities included agriculture, transport, manufacturing and industry, retail and shops, services, and supplies. Beneficiaries were given the option to choose the activity of their choice."
He said that each beneficiary was given financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh, of which Rs 9.9 lakh was released into the beneficiary's bank account and Rs 0.1 lakh was credited to a common Raksha Fund. An amount of Rs 17,700 crore was earmarked for the scheme during the financial year 2022-23, with a proposed expenditure of Rs 1.7 lakh crore over the next five years to cover all dalit families, he added.
He claimed that the scheme encountered problems right from the beginning, and that MLAs and their followers were involved in the selection of beneficiaries, and selected their party members. In some cases, the party workers collected Rs 2 to 3 lakh to include a beneficiary's name in the selected list, he said.
He also said, "Regarding the selection of activities, instructions were clear that beneficiaries should receive training and field visits before the scheme was implemented, but this was not done. Due to serious irregularities and wastage of public funds, the FGG had requested an evaluation of the program, but no action was taken. The scheme was introduced mostly for political benefit at the cost of taxpayers' money. The Chief Minister himself had stated that the scheme was introduced for electoral gains."
"Dalita Bandhu was first introduced in Vasalamarri Village in Turkapally mandal on a saturation mode. The FGG had conducted an evaluation of the scheme in Vasalamarri village. In our survey, we found that against 52 dalit families, 75 units were established. In some families, more than one unit was given, and Rs 6.5 crore were deposited in beneficiary accounts. Some units were not established at all, and even fully established units were not generating the expected income. Due to the absence of training and field visits, beneficiaries were unable to manage the scheme properly. After six months of implementation, transport vehicles and tractors were sold off at throwaway prices by the beneficiaries," he said.
The FGG believed that the same situation prevailed in many villages across Telangana, and that so far Rs 3,884 crore had been spent on scheme, which required thorough evaluation, Reddy added.