Direct loans for minorities from next year: Dy CM

Hyderabad : Deputy Chief Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali said the Telangana Government would provide direct loans to the candidates of minority communities, without the involvement of banks, from next year onwards.

Replying to a question raised by MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi and others during Question Hour in Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, the Deputy CM admitted that fresh applications for bankable loan schemes were not being accepted for the last one year. However, he said priority was accorded to clearance of pending applications. He said that the State Government has only increased the subsidy component up to 80%, but also increased the loan amount. For the same reason, he said not many applications could be approved.

The Deputy CM said of Rs. 150 crore allocated for the purpose, only Rs. 45 crore were released and only Rs. 22.50 crore were spent during 2017-18. He said the remaining amount would be utilised by the end of this financial year.

Mahmood Ali said despite State Minorities Finance Corporation releasing the subsidy component, banks were hesitating to provide loans to minorities. On receipt of several complaints, he said a meeting was held with bankers to resolve the issue.

The Deputy CM informed that the Minorities Finance Corporation received a total of 153,906 loan applications during the last three years. Of them, as many as 3,669 were cleared in 2015-16; 8436 in 2016-17 and this year so far 2,439 applications were cleared. Therefore, loans were issued to 14,544 applications while more than applications are still pending.

Speaking on the issue, MIM MLA Jaffar Hussain complained that no fresh applications were being accepted since 2015-16. He said the applications under Own-Your-Auto were also pending. He demanded that the government clear all the pending applications at once.