Hyderabad: Dy. CM of Telangana State, Mr. Mohammed Mahmood Ali gave an assurance that he would take special steps to get the budget released for payment of Makkah Masjid employees and to get repairing works done. Employees of Makkah Masjid apprised the Dy. CM about the bad condition of Makkah Masjid’s ceiling and the need to construct toilets. They informed him that no separate budget had been allocated for Makkah Masjid due to which the employees are not getting their salaries for the past three months. A sum of Rs. 18 lakh was borrowed from Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation which was utilized for the payment of salaries to staff. The Department of Minorities Welfare is not in a position to pay salaries to Makkah Masjid Staff. If the Govt. does not release budget before the end of this month, it may not be possible to pay salaries to Makkah Masjid employees. In addition to Makkah Masjid employees, Security Guards also won’t be able to get their salaries.
Mr. Mohammed Jalaluddin Akbar, Director of the Department of Minorities Welfare proposed that Rs. 3 crore should be allocated for payment of salaries to Makkah Masjid staff and for the construction of new bathrooms and repair works. He wrote to the department of Finance but no action has been taken for the past two months. A sum of Rs. 1.75 crore was estimated for immediate repair of the ceiling of the mosque. The officials of the Department of Minorities Welfare are making rounds of the Department of Finance for the release of this amount.
It is very surprising that the officials of Department of Minorities Welfare have been making repeated representations but at the governmental level no instructions have been issued to the Department of Finance for the release of budget. The officials of the Department of Finance have been avoiding the release of budget on some pretext or the other. In addition to payment of salaries to Makkah Masjid Staff, there is an urgent need for filling up eight vacant posts. The employees of Makkah Masjid briefed the Dy. CM about all these issues. Mr. Mahmood Ali assured that he would convene a meeting of high level officials of the concerned departments and would resolve all these issues. It may be noted that the construction of new bathrooms is very essential since the old ones have been in very bad condition.
–Siasat News