Hyderabad: The government has reduced allocations for minorities welfare in the Budget, allocating only Rs 1,377.22 crore, including the state’s share in centrally sponsored schemes, as against Rs 2,004 crore projected in the vote-on-account for the current financial year.
The money is 29 per cent (Rs 553.31 crore) less than the allocation of Rs 1,930.53 crore in the revised estimate (RE) for 2018-19. No amount has been earmarked for T-Prime and T-SEZ schemes and the constructions of the Sikh Bhavan and the Christian Bhavan.
TS Minorities Residential Schools and Hostels got the major share in the budget at Rs 470.75 crore, though which was Rs 735 crores the last year. Allocations for overseas scholarships went down to Rs 73.57 crore (last year Rs 82.29 crore).
The government has earmarked Rs 28.31 crore against the allocation of Rs 131.66 crore in the RE. This means minorities will not get subsidies on bankable schemes till the end of the financial year. Allocations for scholarships and stipends, including RTF and MTF have been reduced to Rs 234.32 crore against Rs 378 crore last year.
Assistance to the Urdu Academy was reduced from Rs 32.91 crore to Rs 8.52 crore. Likewise, Rs 55.14 crore was allocated for assistance towards honorarium to imams and muezzins against Rs 65.83 crore last year.
Assistance to the Centre for Educational Development was Rs 1.32 crore against Rs 3.29 crore last year and for the Telangana Study Circle Rs 1.47 crore against Rs 6.58 crore last year. Assistance to the Haj Committee was reduced from Rs 3.29 crore to Rs 1.32 crores. The government earmarked Rs 2.35 crore for repairs and maintenance of Macca Masjid and Royal Mosque, Rs 32.45 crore as the state share in centrally sponsored schemes against Rs 74.06 crore last year.
