– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, Dec. 30: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said, in the wake of the suspension of the scholarships given by central government to minority students, his government was ready to bear the cost and disburse the scholarships. “The government is ready to pay scholarships to 6.4 lakh students. While Rs.60 crore is earmarked in the budget, another Rs.40 crore must be arranged with funds available with the department through re-appropriation,” the CM said, according to a statement from his office.
It was also decided to increase allocation for various schemes meant for minorities. “A huge number of applications are being received online for the schemes meant for minorities and it has been decided to provide more grants for the same next year,” the CM noted.
In the 2023-24 fiscal, Siddaramaiah has allocated Rs.2,101.19 crore for minority welfare.
Earlier Siddaramaiah also directed officials concerned to formulate an action plan worth Rs.1,000 crore to develop minority-dominated localities. The directive came at a review meeting of the progress of Minority Welfare and Housing Department. Siddaramaiah said the action plan should cover minority colonies and areas where their population is large. The Chief Minister promised that he would gradually increase budgetary allocation for minorities to Rs 10,000 crore.
Noting that construction of 1.31 lakh houses out of 3 lakh houses has been completed so far in the current year under various schemes, the Chief Minister directed officials to complete the work on 1.6 lakh houses by March.
Housing, Minority Welfare and Haj Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan; Political Secretary to the CM, Naseer Ahmed; Secretary Finance Department LK Ateeq; Housing Secretary PC Jaffer and other officials were present at the meeting.
