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KCR Govt mulls sub-plans for BCs, minorities
Following the demand from opposition parties and social organisations, the government is mulling to introduce separate sub-plans for BCs and minorities in the 2017 budget.
Hyderabad: Following the demand from opposition parties and social organisations, the government is mulling to introduce separate sub-plans for BCs and minorities in the 2017 budget.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is learnt to have discussed the issue with officials of BC welfare and minorities departments. Top officials of these departments told The Hans India that the government was keen to create sub-plans for the two communities on the lines of SC/ST sub-plans.
The sub-plans, they said, would help in allocating specific funds to each community engaged in different traditional professions like artisans, handloom weavers, toddy tappers, fishing, sheep rearing and cattle farmers.
At present, funds are provided to these communities through federations under the BC welfare department and there is a growing feeling that the funds meant for each community was not being allocated properly due to lack of monitoring mechanism.
Under the sub-plan, special mechanism would be introduced for monitoring of release of funds and its utilization regularly. The officials said that this was one of the promises made by KCR in the election manifesto during 2014 elections.
In 2015-16, the government allocated Rs 2,172 crore for BC welfare and Rs 2,530 crore for the current financial year.
The release of funds for the welfare and developmental programmes has been below 60 per cent of the total allocations.
Similarly, minority welfare department was allocated Rs 1,200 crore in 2016-17 budget and Rs 1,105 crore in 2015-16 budget. But the release of funds had shown a decline.
At a recent high-level review meeting on minority welfare, KCR felt that fund release and utilisation needs to be streamlined in the next budget by allocating specific funds for each programme like Kalyana Lakshmi, oversees educational programme and self-employment scheme.
The Secretaries of the BC and minority welfare departments, the sources said, had taken up a preliminary exercise on the sub-plans and would soon be forwarded to the Finance department for its consent.
