Hyderabad: In a shocking development, it has been found that the Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation (TSMFC) closed around 1.20 lakh applications it received for a minority financial assistance scheme in 2014-15.
The TSMFC in 2014-2015 financial year invited applications for financial assistance scheme and it received a whooping 1.53 lakh applications from aspiring beneficiaries in Telangana.
It invited applications to set up trade units and small scale industries. The Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation (TSMFC) announced that it will provide an 80 per cent subsidy on loans up to Rs 1 to 2 lakh, 60 percent for loans between Rs 3 lakh and 5 lakh, and 50 percent for loans up to Rs 10 lakh. A good part of the applicants were women who were keen on taking up self-employment.
To the dismay of manym the TSMFC could clear around 1,500 applications in the 100 per cent subsidy loans, while it approved another 23,000 applications for loans in the Rs 1-2 lakh range.
Sources in the TSMFC said the corporation closed down all the pending applications on pretext of issues relating to the verification of the applicants. “All the applications are closed. We are instructed to accept and process only new applications,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
Word was also around that the Telangana government has given its administrative approval for release of Rs 32 crore to TSMFC towards clearing pending applications of the loan a few years ago. However, that does not seem to be the case, said the official.
A small time trader, Haji Akram Ali, one of the thousands who had applied for financial assistance scheme said, “I have lost faith in the scheme. I spent Rs. 2,000 in readying the documents and submitting online. I had gone to the bank and made rounds of the TSMFC office. I didn’t get a penny,” he complained.
Zainab Sultana*, a resident of Sultan Shahi, said the government failed in keeping its promise of extending financial assistance to women of minority communities. “Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had in fact in the assembly had assured to look into the issue and clear the pending applications. We now firmly believe it is a waste exercise, again over a lakh people will apply for the loans and only few will get,” she remarked.
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