Hyderabad, Feb 10: The Telangana government has allocated Rs.2,262 crore for welfare of minorities in the vote-on-account budget for financial year 2024-25.
The allocation is marginally higher than that of 2023-24. In the last budget presented by the previous BRS government, Rs.2,196 crore was allocated.
Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka presented an interim budget in the Assembly. This is the first budget of the new Congress government.
“With the aim of providing the best facilities and the education to SC&ST minority students we will strengthen the existing residential schools,” he said.
He also stated that the government decided to construct buildings with the best amenities for all the residential schools presently housed in rental buildings. “We plan to install solar panels in these schools and the power charges saved would be utilized to benefit the students further,” he said.
For the construction of new buildings for SC schools and ST schools, he proposed Rs.1,000 crores and Rs.250 crores respectively but made no announcement about allocation for minority schools.
Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS) runs minority residential schools in the state and they are the beneficiaries of the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) of the Centre. This scheme has now been renamed as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakaram.
Where is promised Rs.4,000 crore, asks BRS
Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail has criticised the Congress 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,” Abdullah Sohail said in a statement.
He highlighted that there is no mention of minority welfare schemes in the interim budget. In a 40-page speech, the word “minority” was mentioned only five times with no specific reference to any scheme. Sohail pointed out that the Congress Government has only stated that existing residential schools for minorities would be strengthened but did not make any allocations. While Rs 1,000 crore has been allocated for the construction of SC schools and Rs 250 for ST schools, no provision has been made for minority schools.
“Where is the promised Rs 4,000 crore budget for minorities and a Minorities Sub-Plan?” he asked, referring to the promises made in the Minorities Declaration by the Congress party during Assembly elections. Sohail accused the Congress Govt of cheating minorities in the name of doubling the welfare budget compared to the BRS regime.
“The Congress government is taking revenge on minorities who voted for the BRS in previous elections. First, it deprived Muslims of a berth in the State cabinet, and now, by neglecting them in the budget, it is sidelining their welfare,” he alleged.
Abdullah Sohail announced that the BRS party would launch an agitation to pressurize the Congress Government to honour the promise of a Rs 4,000 crore budget, the minorities sub-plan, and other assurances.
