Hyderabad: The issue of leakage of Minorities Dept. budget was discussed in the House Committee meeting of Telangana Assembly yesterday. Some of the members were anxious to the authenticity of the details of funds released to Minorities Dept. which were published in Siasat Urdu Daily. In the report, Siasat Urdu Daily had lamented that the release of funds from the State Govt. for Minorities Dept. is very slow. It had also published statistics which depicted that out of Rs. 1200 crore allocated for the Dept. of Minorities Welfare, only Rs. 270. 95 lakh have been spent out of Rs. 635 crore released by the Govt. On account of non-availability of funds, many welfare schemes are not being implemented.
It is reported that the Secretary of the Dept. of Minorities Welfare was requested to clarify about the details of funds published in Siasat Urdu Daily. The Secretary confirmed that the figures are according to official statistics. He further mentioned that bills worth Rs. 249 crore are pending with the Finance Dept.
Taking into consideration the slow pace of release of funds for the Dept. of Minorities Welfare, it was decided to commission Finance Secretary in the next making of the House Committee scheduled to be held on 24th November to find out the reasons for not releasing the funds. If the Secretary of Finance is not in a position to release the budget, a representation would be made to CM.
The officials of the Dept. of Minorities Welfare stated that due to non release of funds the implementation of welfare schemes for minorities has come to a standstill. It remains to be seen whether the House Committee would be successful in getting the budget released for Minorities.
It may be mentioned that the House Committee has the power to recommend to the Govt. to release the funds but the big question is whether this committee would be able to exert its pressure on the Govt. or not. This committee consists of the members from the ruling party as well as from its ally.
The House Committee also decided to commission the officials of GHMC since it has to pay Rs. 380 crore to Wakf Board as the compensation for acquiring Wakf properties.
–Siasat News