Training their guns on the Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation (TSMFC) for spending a mere ₹64 lakh of its total allocation of ₹28 crore in FY 2022-23, a group of activists here pointed out that a large number of applicants under the bank-linked subsidy scheme are awaiting funds. Moreover, TSMFC has not spent any portion of its allocation this fiscal, according to a Right to Information (RTI) request filed by activist M.A. Akram.
“The response to my RTI query is dated June 15, which means that the data is up to date. In FY 2022-23, a large amount was left unspent. In the current financial year, an allocation of ₹150 crore for bank-linked subsidy scheme was made and over ₹37.50 crore released. But, nothing of it has been spent so far,” Mr Akram said, adding that several applicants are awaiting clearance and that the process to submit the applications also needed to be made simpler.
Bank-linked subsidy scheme, also known as the economic support scheme (ESS), seeks to provide financial assistance to Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, and Parsis so as to promote economic activity for their welfare.
As of now, TSMFC has called for applications for loans under category-I and category-II patterns of subsidy. While the former gives beneficiaries up to ₹1 lakh, the latter gives ₹2 lakh. The bank or beneficiary component differs in each category.
A circular sent to district minority welfare officers of the State in December last year includes a tentative timetable for selection of candidates, and grounding of schemes which was scheduled to be completed in February this year.
