Hyderabad: No funds have been allocated for the Gulf workers’ welfare in the annual budget announced by Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao here on Thursday.
However, the budget made a mention of an initiative that the Telangana Government is likely to take up in the near future. “The state government has decided to put in place an administrative arrangement on the lines of Kerala for the welfare of workers from Telangana who had gone to the Gulf Countries for livelihood,” Harish Rao said in his budget speech.
A Special Team has already visited Kerala to study the policies being adopted by the Kerala government. Based on the report of the team the government will initiate measures for the welfare of Gulf workers, the minister said.
Emigrants Welfare Forum (EWF) president Bheem Reddy Mandha said the assurances given in the budget speech did not support any allocations in the budget. He appealed to the government to set up a Telangana Gulf workers welfare Board with a budget of Rs 500 crore to benefit workers in more than 18 countries, including the gulf.
Bheem Reddy recalled that an amount of Rs 100 crore had been allotted in the budget in March 2018 but funds were not spent.
