‘Funds allotted for SC/ST development goes unutilised’

HYDERABAD: It has been three months to the incident where two Dalit men from Gudem village in Siddipet district doused themselves with petrol to expose the alleged irregularities in the selection of beneficiaries for the land to landless Dalits scheme. However, nothing has been done towards this yet. 
This apart, there are several other irregularities in the implementation of the Telangana State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Special Development Fund (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, 2017, which was passed in Telangana in March 2017. 

According to a survey conducted by NGO Action Aid, in association with Dalit Bahujan Front and a few others at district level, funds allocated for the purpose have not been fully utilised. As per their findings, in last three years, out of the `41,526 crore allocated for SC development, only `17,000 crore has been utilised. Similarly, of the `23,930 crore allocated for ST development, only `11,251 crore has been utilised. The survey conducted in 17 districts across 30 mandals and 41 villages also revealed that land was not purchased by government in at least nine districts in last two years. P Shankar, national secretary of DBF said, “Crop loans are also being rejected in some districts for reasons unknown.”