AIMIM wants Rs 4,100 cr for minority welfare in Telangana budget

The All India Majlis-e- Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) today requested Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to allocate Rs 4,100 crore for the welfare of minorities in the forthcoming state budget.

AIMIM legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi, in a letter to the CM, said though the budgetary allocations for minorities welfare have aggregated to Rs 4,613.85 crore in four years (2014-15 to 2017-18), the actual releases have been only Rs 2,702 crore while the actual expenditure was Rs 2,330 crore.

By the end of the current financial year, this figure may reach Rs 2,500 crore, the AIMIM's floor leader in the state Assembly said.

"We would earnestly request you to raise the budgetary allocation for the minorities welfare department to Rs 4,100 crore in the financial year 2018-19 to meet the commitments on the existing and proposed schemes," he said.

Owaisi said they want higher allocations for the minorities' residential schools, loaning programmes, and scholarships and fees reimbursement on par with the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, as assured by the CM in the Assembly.

He pointed out that the requested amount will be only 2 percent of the Rs 2 lakh crore state budget that the government is contemplating for the 2018-19 fiscal.

Expressing gratitude for allotting Rs 1,249.49 crore and additional allocations of Rs 97.43 crore for the minorities welfare department in the last state budget, Owaisi requested the CM to ensure that the allocated funds are released expeditiously before the end of the financial year.