Hyderabad: The Telangana government has announced on Friday, February 28, that 40,000 free sewing machines will be distributed across the state in two phases under the Indiramma Mahila Shakti scheme.
According to the Telangana Minorities Finance Corporation (TGMFC) chairman, Obedulla Kothwal, chief minister Revanth Reddy will hand over the machines in Wanaparthy on March 2.
In the first phase, 10,490 free sewing machines will be distributed across nine districts in Telangana, while in the second phase, 31,740 machines will be given to the beneficiaries.
On December last year, the TGMFC had invited applications for free sewing machines to eligible women from minority communities. Women belonging to Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains and Parsi faiths, who are trained in sewing, are eligible for the scheme.
Addressing the media, Kothwal alleged that the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government did little for the minority communities. He claimed that a few months before the 2023 Assembly elections, the KCR-led government distributed cars and loans to a few beneficiaries to gain voters.
‘Middlemen looting free sewing machine beneficiaries in Telangana’
Earlier, the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) leader Amjed Ullah Khan alleged that middlemen, and agents at Mandal Revenue (MRO) offices extorted money from women who planned to apply for the machines to support their families.
He reportedly said that while applying for the sewing machines offered by the TGFMC is completely free, multiple candidates complained of middlemen at the MRO offices asking for money from candidates to pay Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 for income certificates, which are provided by the government free of cost.
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