By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Hyderabad: Even when 80% of its last year’s budget remained unreleased, the Telangana Minorities Welfare Department is still eyeing a huge budgetary allocation for the forthcoming year.
The state officials acknowledged shortcomings in the management and allotment of funds but gave a host of reasons, including the formation of the new state (June 2014) and subsequent chaos for the state of affairs.
Chief Minister KCR with his deputy Mehmood Ali. (TCN file photo)
The Minorities Welfare Department had sent a proposal for and got the nod from the Finance Ministry for a whopping Rs 1,200 crore for 2015-16, Rs 170 crore more than last year’s Rs 1030 crore.
Syed Omer Jaleel, MWD special secretary, confirmed to TwoCircles.net that the finance ministry had indeed accepted his department’s proposal (Rs 1,200 crore) and also given a green flag for a new scheme for overseas education assistance to students from minority communities.
Muslims in the state remain cynical about the increase in allotment, and why not? In the last fiscal 2014-15, out of the Rs 1,030 crore allotted, only Rs 200 crore was released by the Government even as over 80 % of the budget allocation meant for different welfare schemes remain unutilized in its coffers.
Finance department figures reveal, four schemes from previous year’s budget – construction of primary schools for minority children; free coaching to Muslim students in Telangana study circle; assistance for admission of minority students to reputed institutions and fencing and maintenance of churches and graveyards – were not allotted even a single paisa.
In 2014-15, the government – in four small installments – released minute share of budget for Minorities Welfare: between June-August, Rs 62.16 crore; in September, Rs 87.45 crore; in October–November Rs 24.89 crore was released and in December 2014-January 2015, Rs 25.75 crore was released.
The Minority Affairs Ministry remains with the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao. Deputy CM Mehmood Ali, who holds the portfolio of Revenue Minister, was also unable to manage the budget allocation for minorities’ welfare. Even the most popular scheme of KCR government ‘Shaadi Mubarak’ – through which assistance is to be provided for the marriage of poor Muslim girls – got the most beating due to no allowance. Of the Rs 100 crore allotted, only Rs 20 lakh was released, i.e 0.2% of the allotted budget.
Previous year, the highest chunk of Minorities Welfare Budget allocation went for education fee reimbursement scheme, a total of Rs 400 crore. But in the end of this fiscal, only Rs 60 crore is released. Similarly, in the scholarship scheme only Rs 15 crore was released from the allotted Rs 100 crore even though thousands of Muslim students depending on fee reimbursement scheme for their professional education are yet to receive the amount in their college accounts.
For bank loan subsidy scheme, only Rs 30.86 lakh was released out of Rs 95 crore allotted. Institutions such as Dairatul Maarif and Urdu Academy were also deprived of their 50% of share in the allotted budget.
Syed Omer Jaleel, Special Secretary of Government for Minorities Welfare Department, acknowledged shortcomings in the management and allotment of funds but gave a host of reasons for current state of affairs. “On June 2, the state was formed and in August the budget was tabled. We had a short time for proper utilization. Over and above it, there was bifurcation process going on, officer’s cadre was allotted till recently. There was no regulatory mechanism in place, and a single secretary was managing four departments at a time. So yes, there were glitches.”
But Jaleel assured that this time, the allocated budget will be utilized to its full extent. “This fiscal year, we will give our 100% for full budget utilization, and it is going to be our top priority.”