Hyderabad, March 23: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has assured minorities that all the promises made by the Congress party during elections will be implemented.
He said the government would fulfil the promises when a full-fledged Budget for 2024-25 will be presented.
The Chief Minister gave the assurance while replying to a question at Meet the Press programme on completion of his government’s 100 days.
He was asked about the promise to increase the budget for minorities’ welfare to Rs.4,000 crore. “We have presented only vote-on-account budget. When we present a full-fledged budget, all the promises will be implemented,” he said.
In the vote-on-account budget presented in the Assembly last month, the government had allocated Rs.2,262 crore for welfare of minorities.
The allocation was marginally higher than that of 2023-24. In the last budget presented by the previous BRS government, Rs.2,196 crore was allocated.
Opposition BRS had criticised the government for not allocating sufficient funds for the welfare of minorities in the vote-on-account budget.
“In a budget of about Rs 2.75 lakh crore, a meagre sum of Rs.2,262 crore has been allocated for minorities’ welfare. This is just 0.82% of the total budget and only Rs.62 crore higher than the allocation made by the previous BRS Govt in 2023-24,” BRS leader Abdullah Sohail had said.
However, the Muslim leaders of Congress party defended the government, saying it is committed to welfare and development of minorities. They are confident that allocation for minorities’ welfare will increase after the Lok Sabha elections when the Budget estimate is revised and a full-fledged budget for 2024-25 will be presented.
The Congress party had made several promises in its Minority Declaration released during Assembly elections.
The main promise was doubling the minority budget to Rs.4,000 crore.
The Congress party, which had provided 4 percent reservation for socially and economically backward among Muslims in united Andhra Pradesh by categorising them in a separate group BC(E), had also promised that if voted to power it will conduct a caste census within six months and ensure fair reservation for all backward classes including minorities in jobs, education and government welfare schemes.
The Congress also promised that it will provide Rs.1,000 crore annually to facilitate subsidized loans for jobless minority youth and women.
It also promised financial assistance of Rs.5 lakh to minority youth completing M.Phil and Ph.D under Abdul Kalam Taufa-e-Taleem Scheme. Students completing post-graduation will get Rs.1 lakh each while Rs.25,000 will be given for graduation, Rs.15,000 for intermediate and Rs.10,000 for 10th class.
The Congress promised monthly honorarium of Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000 for priests from all religions including imams, Muezzins, khadims, pastors and granthis.
It had assured that the Telangana State Minorities Commission Act, 1998 will be amended to make it a permanent body. The annual report of the Commission will be tabled in the state legislature to make suitable changes for minorities welfare.
The Congress also promised digitizing land and property records of the Waqf Board. Encroached properties of the Waqf Board will be reclaimed and re-registered.
It assured a house site and Rs.5 lakh for construction of houses for all houseless minority families under Indiramma Indlu Scheme. The government will also provide Rs.1.60 lakh to newly-wed couples of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities.
