Minorities budget release position disappointing

Hyderabad: Govt. of Telangana allocated Rs. 1200 crore in its budget for the Dept. of Minorities Welfare. It released Rs. 635.36 crore whereas only Rs. 270.95 crore have been spent. There are still bills pending to the tune of Rs. 249.57 crore.

Due to financial crises, Govt. has given instructions to finance Dept. not to release any funds for other Dept. As a result all the welfare schemes have been stopped. There are no funds available for Shaadi Mubarak, Scholarships and fee reimbursement. As per the statistics presented to CM, only Rs. 270.95 crore have been spent on 25 welfare schemes for Minorities. It is reported that in Finance Dept., bills worth Rs. 249.57 crore are pending. If these bills are cleared, the expenditure of Minorities Welfare Dept. would reach Rs. 635 crore. Now that the last quarter of the financial year is nearing, there is no hope of releasing more funds. Out of Rs. 223 crore, only Rs. 66.31 crore have been released toward fees reimbursement. This is a situation which worries minority colleges. These colleges have been insisting the students to pay the fees.

Bank linked subsidy scheme was allocated Rs. 150 crore but only Rs. 34.50 crore have been spent. Out of Rs. 3 crore allocated for Dairat-ul-Maarif of Osmania University, only Rs. 75000 have been released. For the construction of Urdu Ghar and marriage halls, a sum of Rs. 23 crore was allocated but only Rs. 5.75 crore was spent. For payment of honorarium to Imams and Mauzins only Rs. 16.25 crore were spent whereas the budget allocated was Rs. 65 crore. Out of Rs. 2 crore allocated for Survey Commissioner of Wakfs, only Rs. 50000 have been released. Hajj Committee received only Rs. 75000 and the bills worth Rs. 1.5 crore are pending in Finance Dept. For pre-matric scholarship, only Rs. 7.27 lakhs were spent and bills worth Rs. 20 crore are pending in Finance Dept. Out of Rs. 150 crore allocated for Shaadi Mubarak Scheme, only Rs. 19.79 crore have been spent whereas bill worth Rs. 21 crore are pending. For overseas scholarship scheme, Rs. 30 crore were allocated but only 6.87 crore have been released and Rs. 8 crore are pending in Finance Dept.

In all, out of Rs. 1200 crore allocated for the Dept. of Minorities Welfare, only Rs. 635.36 crore have been released. Out of this amount, the Dept. has spent only Rs. 270.95 crore. Bills worth Rs. 249.57 crore are pending in Finance Dept. It is reported that in the next five months, the Dept. of Minorities Welfare would need Rs. 502.26 crore.

–Siasat News