Hyderabad: Following a backlash, the Telangana government on Friday sanctioned an additional budget of Rs 70 cr under bank-linked and non-bank-linked subsidies under the Economic Support Scheme of Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation (TSMFC).
The decision was taken by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in a review meeting held on Friday to extend Category I & II subsidy loans to another 7000 minorities in the state.
The loans will be used for setting up and developing business units viz; petty units and various allied business activities for economic development and general upliftment of minority communities in the state to improve their means and standard of living.
The state had earlier granted a budget of Rs 50 crore that would uplift 5000 from the minorities.
Facing backlash an additional budget of Rs 70 crore was added bringing the total under the subsidy loan scheme to Rs 120 crore to benefit 12000 minorities.
The Telangana Congress had slammed the TRS government over their initial sanction for the scheme and had stated that it was an open insult to minorities.
They stated that the minority population in Telangana (as per the 2011 census) is 45,59,425 and it has increased significantly in the last decade.
“There are at least 12-15 lakh jobless youth among all the minority communities like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, etc., But the government intends to provide a loan of about Rs 1 lakh to just 5,000 jobless youth. This is nothing but an open insult to all the minority communities in the state,” Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) minorities department Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail, had stated.
