Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Thursday released the final tranche of Rs 500 crore towards implementation of Dalit Bandhu pilot project Huzurabad constituency, completing the whopping Rs 2000 crore fund release in a 17-day span.
The amount was deposited by the state scheduled castes development corporation in the account of Karimnagar collector, who is responsible for overseeing Dalit Bandhu implementation in the poll-bound assembly constituency.
The first instalment of Rs 500 crore for Dalit Bandhu was released on August 9, followed by another Rs 500 crore on August 24, Rs 200 crore on August 24, Rs 300 crore on August 25 and the last instalment of Rs 500 crore was released on Thursday.
“This marks the completion of the release of Rs 2000 crore for the scheme as announced recently by the chief minister at Karimnagar public meeting. The government machinery has made all arrangements at the field level to take up the project,” an official release said adding that the scheme would be implemented in Huzurabad in war footing from now.
While only Rs 1,000 crore was the budgetary allocation made for the scheme, the remaining Rs 1,000 crore is known to ahve been diverted from the other SC development budget.
Telangana Dalit Bandhu is done via a one-time direct cash transfer of Rs 10 lakh to each family of that community, the biggest ever direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme in the country.
In Huzurabad alone, there are 20,929 Dalit families. The government had earlier said the scheme would be applicable to only eligible beneficiaries among them, who would be selected through thorough scrutiny. Priority would be given to those who have no assets.