Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that TRS MLAs and their followers have become commission agents for the ‘Dalit Bandhu’ scheme
He was addressing a press conference in his office in Huzurnagar after conducting a meeting with all sarpanches of the Suryapet district on Monday.
During the meeting, the sarpanches demanded that the beneficiaries of Dalit Bandhu be selected through gram sabhas. Similarly, the power to identify beneficiaries of the proposed Girijan Bandhu scheme must be given to the gram sabhas, they said.
The scheme provides one-time capital assistance of ₹10 lakhs per SC family for all eligible families as 100% grant/subsidy to establish suitable income-generating schemes without bank loan linkage.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the Dalit Bandhu scheme is benefiting non-dalit TRS functionaries, more than the dalit community members as they have been collecting huge commissions. Consequently, he said the poor eligible SC families are either being neglected or being forced to pay huge bribes. The scheme is not empowering the poor dalit community members, but making the TRS leaders richer, he alleged.
The Nalgonda MP said that the gram panchayats should be actively involved in the identification of deserving beneficiaries. He said that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao should seriously look into the allegations if he is concerned about the economic empowerment of dalits.
