Hyderabad: With the Budget Session of the Telangana Assembly expected to begin end of February, activists in the state have raised concerns over the funds allocated for minority welfare and put forward their suggestions on their utilisation on Friday, February 21.
Social activist and advocate Dr Lubna Sarwath claimed that the government has been inflating the budget to “please the minorities,” but the funds and benefits do not reach the intended beneficiaries effectively.
In a roundtable discussion, Sarwath objected to the annual state dinner/iftar practice, saying that the expenditure could be directed to educational schemes.
“For the past three years, they have consistently been allocating Rs 66 crore for the iftar and Christmas feast across districts. What is the need for this? When accounts for 2023-24 show an expenditure of Rs 33 crore, why double the amount? On what basis?” she asked.
Sarwath also said that while the state claims an expenditure of nearly Rs 33 crore in the financial year 2023-24, Right To Information (RTI) replies received from the Minority Welfare Department say that no amount was spent by them on iftar dinner or clothes due to the Model Code of Conduct being in place for the general election.
Another RTI reply on the expenditure for the Dawat-e-Iftar held on March 15, 2024, shows that only Rs 2.78 crore was spent altogether, while the financial statements show an expenditure of nearly Rs 3.23 crore.
“How will the difference of Rs 45 lakh be accounted for? More importantly, where was the Rs 33 crore spent when there were no Ramzan celebrations? Was all of the money spent on the Christmas feast?” Sarwath asked.
The RTI reply also shows that out of the total Rs 2.78 crore, only Rs 65 lakh was actually spent on food, while Rs 2.05 crore was spent on “furnishing.”
What to do this upcoming Budget Session
Another speaker at the roundtable, V Sai Prasad Sastry, former Deputy Commissioner, Income Tax, said that the public should make sure that all allocations are translated into measurable outcomes.
He asked people to seek the previous year’s outcome budget report before the new session to know if the funds allocated were spent the way they were supposed to.
“Write to your MLAs asking them to scrutinise the outcome budget before voting for the demand for grants. If the outcome report does not show that last year’s allocations were spent appropriately, then the MLAs should boycott the session,” Sastry said.
All participants present passed a resolution saying that all budget release orders (BRO) pertaining to the iftar budget for the last five years should immediately be displayed to the public.
Additionally, activists demanded that a list of beneficiaries should be placed in the House for the authenticity of every scheme under which funds of Rs 3,500 crore were spent.
They also asked for the iftar budget to be reallocated to the Telangana Study Circle, Telangana Urdu Academy, Dairatul Ma’arifil Osmania and the Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute.
| 
