Hyderabad: Chief Minister and BRS chief, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, have allegedly voiced discontent with the performance of the Minority Welfare Department and minority institutions. In response, he has sought a detailed report on the matter.
Amidst preparations for the upcoming assembly elections, a combination of survey reports has indicated that the voting trend among Muslim voters may not favour the BRS.
This is due to growing resentment among Muslims as a result of unfulfilled promises and a lack of effective implementation of schemes.
Reliable sources (requested anonymity) have revealed that when the chief minister inquired about the cause of this dissatisfaction among Muslims, he was informed that Muslim leaders representing the BRS and Muslims in government roles have been unable to gain the confidence of the Muslim population in the state.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that despite an expenditure of over Rs 10,000 crore on minority welfare in the last decade, there has been a lack of transparency in the implementation of these schemes.
This lack of transparency has led to deserving Muslim families being deprived of the benefits promised by the government.
In addition, the performance of the Minority Finance Corporation has stagnated in the last seven years.
Despite receiving approximately five lakh applications for the bank-linked subsidy scheme on two separate occasions, many deserving applicants have not received the assistance they are entitled to.
In the run-up to the elections, the government introduced a Rs 1,00,000 assistance program under 100% subsidy for the poor, similar to the Dalit Bandhu scheme. However, there were claims of irregularities in the beneficiary selection process, as names recommended by MLAs were included in the list.
This led to ministers and MLAs expressing their concerns about potential discrepancies in the relief scheme.
Discrepancies were also flagged off during the distribution of sewing machines to women by the Minority Finance Corporation.
Some of the ministers complained of substantial fund diversion in the tender allocation for the sewing machine scheme.
The tender was allegedly awarded at a much higher cost than the actual machine price, and allegations of commissions amounting to Rs 20,000 being received for the release of Rs 1 lakh were raised.
Following these complaints, the Chief Minister has called for a comprehensive report on the various minority schemes.
Senior officials from the Chief Minister’s Office have been tasked with preparing the report, including a detailed assessment of the performance of those managing minority institutions.
