TPCC spokesperson P Indira Shoban today demanded that the Telangana government immediately pay the interest of all the loans availed by the Self Help Groups (SHGs) of the state.
She said that the erstwhile Congress regime of undivided Andhra Pradesh had always supported the SHGs of the state, and added that the government had extended interest-free loans for their development.
"The Congress government of undivided Andhra Pradesh recognised the role of SHGs in empowering the women in the state. So, it had always bolstered the work of such groups, and had even provided interest-free loans to them so that they could flourish. The regime had also implemented the Stree Nidhi and the Jana Sri Bhima Yojana to help the state's SHGs ensure the welfare of women. The schemes impacted the lives of many economically disadvantaged women positively," she said.
Shoban went on to assail the TRS government for "diluting" the schemes introduced by her party, and urged the ruling party to take a more active role in strengthening the SHGs of the state.
"The Congress' decision to give legal status to the 2009 Abhaya Hastham scheme, also introduced to support women self-help groups, is further evidence of its commitment to the welfare of the women in the state. The TRS regime on the other has actively eroded the work done by the preceding Congress government in this regard. After coming to power, it even repealed Abhaya Hastham scheme that had run successfully for five years. I would urge the current government to take a more active role in supporting the SHGs of the state. It should release funds to repay the interests of the loans taken by the SHGs at the earliest," Shoban added.
Citing the official statistics she had accessed under the RTI, she said that the TRS government had paid only Rs 1,760.36 crore between 2014 to 2020 against a total of Rs 3,422.30 crore of arrears owed to 6.72 lakh SHG members in the state, and demanded that the government pay the remaining Rs 1,661.94 crore to the beneficiaries at the earliest.
"Due to the current TRS regime's failure to repay the interest of the loans taken by the SHGs, some banks are forcefully collecting the arrears from the SHGs. This is shameful. I would like to remind the government that is responsible for empowering the women of the state," she said.
The TPCC spokesperson has been quite vocal about her disapproval of the TRS government's stand on issues relating to the SHGs of the state earlier as well, and had
openly opposed the government’s decision to repeal Abhaya Hastham scheme in 2019.