Though Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao will formally launch the Dalit Bandhu scheme for the empowerment of the SC community in the state on August 16 at a public meeting at Huzurabad, the Telangana Scheduled Castes Co-operative Development Corporation Limited (TSCCDCL) today released Rs 500 crore for the implementation of the same.
Corporation vice-chairman and managing director P Karunakar issued cheques for the transfer of the amount to the Karimnagar Collector in this regard.
SC Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar and Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao were among those who welcomed the decision of the government to release Rs 500 crore towards the support program.
Meanwhile, after the state Cabinet okayed the scheme recently, funds of Rs 1,200 crore have been sanctioned for the eligible SC families in poll-bound Huzurabad, where the scheme will be implemented on a pilot basis.
The government will reportedly examine the pros and cons of the program during this phase before implementing it across the state in a phased manner. As part of this exercise, the scheme will be implemented in the remaining 118 Assembly constituencies as well. 100 Dalit families in each constituency will receive monetary aid of Rs 10 lakh each.
Further, reports say that the CM is likely to formally launch the scheme at Huzurabad's Shalapalli, from where the government's wildly successful Rythu Bandhu scheme was also launched in 2018. It is pertinent to mention here that KCR has already issued directions for the implementation of the SC empowerment scheme in Yadadri Bhongir district'a
Vasalamarri village on August 4. The government has released aid of Rs 10 lakh each for 76 eligible Dalit families in the village.
While the SC community may be welcoming the scheme, the parties of the Opposition have been relentless in
attacking it, claiming that it is but a
ploy to pocket votes in the upcoming by-election in Huzurabad.