Minority Welfare Department Yet to Announce New Schemes
The State Minority Welfare Department in Telangana has not announced any new schemes this year. In response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, the department confirmed that no new schemes have been introduced or implemented from 2024 until now.
According to the department’s reply dated February 5, the total budget allocation for minority welfare is Rs 2,997 crore. Out of this, Rs 2,265.74 crore has been released, but only Rs 1,099 crore has been spent by the end of January.
The Telangana Minorities Residential Educational Institutions Society (TMREIS), which has a budget of nearly Rs 1,000 crore, has used about Rs 560 crore. However, despite the government’s claims, it has spent less than half of the Rs 120 crore allocated for diet charges, with only Rs 46.56 crore utilized.
Several welfare schemes have suffered due to underutilization of funds. The Bank Linked Subsidy scheme, which had Rs 300 crore allocated, saw only Rs 0.008 crore spent, even though Rs 225 crore was released. Similarly, for training and employment, only Rs 1 crore was used out of the Rs 30 crore budget. The Telangana Minority Finance Corporation also saw minimal spending, with just Rs 0.16 crore used out of its Rs 150 crore allocation.
For overseas scholarships, the government spent Rs 76 crore, while the budget was Rs 130 crore. The Shaadi Mubarak scheme, which helps minority brides, received only Rs 282 crore out of its Rs 650 crore allocation. The Telangana State Wakf Board was allocated Rs 120 crore, but only Rs 67 crore was spent.
Meanwhile, there is no available data on spending for the Telangana State Wakf Tribunal, Pre-Matric scholarships, MSDP State Matching Grant, Urdu Academy, and the Survey of the Commissioner of Wakf.
