Release Minority Welfare Funds: Congress To State

Hyderabad City Congress Committee (HCCC) Minorities Department Chairman Sameer Waliullah today demanded that the Telangana government immediately release the funds allocated for the welfare of the minorities in the Union Budget of 2020-21, claiming that large chunks of the same had not yet been released.

In a media statement, Waliullah expressed deep concern over the non-release of the allocated funds for various schemes, especially those concerning the education of minority groups in the state.

"Although Rs 1,344.77 crore had been allocated to Telangana for the implementation of various schemes in the last fiscal year, so far Budget Release Orders (BROs) have been issued only for an amount of Rs 908.41 crore. Lakhs of students in the state have been badly affected due to the non-release of the funds, as this had hindered the implementation of more than 10 minority welfare schemes," he said.

"Against a total of Rs 106.77 crore allocated for Telangana's residential schools and hostels for minorities, the BROs that were issued had sanctioned the release of only Rs 53.38 crore. Further, not a single rupee has been released so far to meet the cost of rations in these institutions even though Rs 106.21 crore was allocated for the purpose. The money sanctioned for scholarships for minority students, Rs. 18.7 crore, is also yet to be released, as are the RTF scholarship funds worth Rs 51.73 crore. Nearly 30% of the MTF funds have also not been released yet. The state government has not released Rs 15.63 crore allotted to the Overseas Study Scheme for minorities, Rs 4.26 crore for the Subsidy for Bank-Linked Income Generated Schemes, or the Rs 2.76 crore for the training and employment of minorities," the Congress leader alleged.

He demanded that the pending funds meant for minority education be released immediately as all the schools in the state had already been re-opened on February 1, and students from vulnerable minority communities were in dire need of economic support.

Talking about the government's failure to release the funds for other welfare schemes, Waliullah said that funds worth Rs 75 crore had not been released for the Shaadi Mubarak scheme.

Continuing his attack against the TRS government, he added that the state government did not even release the full amount of Rs 2.35 crore sanctioned for the repair and maintenance of Old City's Mecca Masjid and the Shahi Masjid located in Public Gardens.

"So far, BROs have been issued only for an amount of Rs 1.18 crore out of a total of Rs 2.35 crore allocated for the upkeep and repair of two of the city's major mosques. The TRS government must release the remaining amount at the earliest to enable repair and proper maintenance of both the historic mosques," Walilullah said.

The Congress leader then urged the leaders of the ruling party to "pressurise" Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to direct the state's finance department to release the minority welfare funds allocated in the previous year's budget.

"The TRS has been making fake claims of having spent Rs 2,000 crore for the welfare of minorities in Telangana. In reality, KCR and his government have not even released all the funds that were allocated for minority welfare in the last six years," he claimed.

Referring to a recent statement issued by Home Minister Mahmood Ali during the visit of Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities Commission Atif Rasheed to Hyderabad, Waliullah also claimed that Ali himself admitted that the TRS government had spent Rs 4,945 crore during the last six years for the development of the community.

"This clearly shows that the TRS Govt was making false claims of having an annual budget of Rs 2,000 crore dedicated to the minorities' welfare. If the claim was true, then nearly Rs 12,000 crore should have been spent in the last six years. However, according to the Home Minister himself, only Rs 4,945 crore were spent for the welfare of minorities ever since TRS came to power," he said.