Previous govt’s direct loan scheme faced issues with insufficient funds

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Minority Finance Corporation (TSMFC), which was supposed to provide bank-connected subsidies and schemes for the minorities, has been ineffective due to a lack of government funds. The applicants who tried to release the amount from the cheque handover by the previous government were sent back from the bank due to insufficient funds.

TSMFC is ostensibly the only minority government institution for minorities to ensure the growth of socio-economic progress, and the minorities in the State are facing hardships as they are hopeless of getting loans from the government, as it has been ineffective since the State formation.

For minorities, the schemes include subsidy loans, education, scholarship reimbursement, self-employment loan schemes, and driver empowerment. The applicants are looking to the corporation to make a fresh start by setting up a small business, but there is no hope of getting loans from the government.

According to the social activist, the previous government had announced a direct loan to Muslims to make them self-sufficient by enabling them to start small businesses. The bank-linked scheme had a subsidy of 100 per cent to 60 per cent. “Thousands of Muslims applied for the scheme loan, and some beneficiaries received cheques from the government during the elections, but the cheques were returned back from the bank citing the low funds in the government's account,” said Mohammed Ahmed, an activist.

Citing a scam by the previous government as an election stunt, Mohammed Ahmed said, "The previous BRS-ruled party played with the minorities by handing over only cheques, with no funds in the accounts.”

We minorities urged the present government to help the beneficiaries by releasing the amount in the accounts so that the applicants who were waiting for the loan can utilise the loan amount in their small-scale businesses,” said Ahmed.

Similarly, the loan under the driver-cum-owner scheme, unemployed minorities have applied for the driver empowerment scheme, but several beneficiaries are waiting for approval.

Mohammed Asif Hussain Sohail, a political analyst, said that earlier before the bifurcation, for minorities, there were 21 schemes, and now there are three schemes, and even though these are not being implemented due to a lack of budget, we asked the Congress government to revive the finance corporation for the upliftment of minorities.

Moreover, the Shaadi Mubarak cheques, overseas scholarships, and honorariums for the imams and muazzins among others, were also affected. The present government should take a call and release the scheme amounts that were pending for the last several months.

However, the MFC has been headless for years, even during the previous-ruled government, and even now, no new chairman has been appointed to oversee minority welfare.

BRS senior leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail demanded the State government give a deadline for the fulfilment of specific promises for minorities, including 12 major promises like Rs 1,000 crore per annum to facilitate subsidised loans, the Abdul Kalam Taufa-e-Taleem scheme, a special DSC to recruit Urdu medium teachers, and a monthly honorarium of Rs 10,000–12,000 for priests from all religions, including imams, muezzins, khadims, pastors, and granthis.

Sohail said that the Congress should allocate Rs 4,000 crore for minorities' welfare in the upcoming budget, as promised in the manifesto. He urged the passing of the bill to introduce the minorities sub-plan in the ensuing budget session of the Telangana Legislature.