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State Minority Commission starved of funds
Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission feels that the Muslims are at the receiving end as neither the governments of Telangana nor Andhra Pradesh is giving any money to manage the affairs of the commission.
- Both the Telugu governments are not releasing any money
- Even the chairman has not been getting his pay for six months
- TS govt says it is in the process of constituting its own panel
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Minorities Commission feels that the Muslims are at the receiving end as neither the governments of Telangana nor Andhra Pradesh is giving any money to manage the affairs of the commission.
In fact the commission was pushed to financial crisis for the past six months. As the commission was unable even to pay the salaries to the staff, a representation was made to the government in March and the state government hurriedly allocated Rs 40 lakh for the financial year 2013-14 on March 24. When the commission sent the salary and the furniture expenditure bills, the government cleared them. However, it returned some other bills to the tune of Rs 2 lakh saying that the bills were received late and the money allocated for the commission for that financial year had lapsed on March 31.
The situation had gone from bad to worse in the post-bifurcation scenario. The commission is surviving on credit supplies even for purchase of pen, paper and other stationery material and for its day-to-day expenses. Even the Chairman of the commission had not received his salary for the last six months.
The TS Government says that it will not pay any amount as it is in the process of constituting its own minority commission. The Andhra Pradesh government promised to resolve the issue but so far nothing has been done. “I am paying the electricity and telephone bills from my credit card to avoid disconnection of services,” chairman of the Commission Abid Rasool Khan told The Hans India.
The commission, besides acting as a judicial body, was mandated to conduct studies, awareness programmes and several other works for the benefit of the minorities. However, as their plight continues to be pathetic, the commission has knocked on the doors of the state high court. The court has sought an explanation from the Telangana government as to how it could claim that it would form a new commission since the present commission figures in the 10th Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
Khan said that the commission had been witnessing step-motherly treatment even during the Congress regime when the state was not divided. “It seems the bureaucrats do not want the commission to function and want to see that it starves to death,” he added. The reason for such a thinking, he said, was because the bureaucrats of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State did not seem to be happy with the pro-active role of the commission and the issues it was taking up.
