Govt Figures Tell a Tale

HYDERABAD: Various corporations set up for taking up and implementing welfare programmes for different communities may be existing mostly on paper, with little to show for their performance, if data provided by the government to the Assembly during the ongoing Budget session is anything to go by.

According to the government, Telangana has 33 welfare corporations, federations, and special welfare boards, but only 16 of them have ‘functional’ offices or staff rendering the rest as non-entities for all practical purposes. Further, the government has said that only nine of the 22 corporations have chairpersons.

While such bodies for long have been used by successive governments to rehabilitate party leaders, the government’s reply to a question from BRS MLAs on various issues related to these bodies, raised questions on their purpose, or effectiveness in delivering on their responsibilities.

Even the funds promised and released to these bodies have large gaps according to the information provided by the government. During the period the government has been in power, the budget estimates – funds promised for the corporations, federations or welfare boards –were pegged at `14,521.98 crore but the government admitted that only `3,198.07 crore were actually released. Of this, a mere `305.6 crore were utilised in the last two and a half years.

At least five of these institutions – the Mala, Madiga, Sant Sevalal, Komuram Bheem, and Ekalavya corporations – did not even figure in the bodies that were listed in the Budget documents as having 0 estimates, followed by information that there were no fund releases or expenditure for them.

While the largest estimates were for the SC Corporation at `5,403.72 crore, followed by `2,730 crore for the ST Corporation, with BC Corporation coming third with `1,370 crore, the funds released were `1,706.12 crore, `125 crore and `295 crore respectively. The government said the SC Corporation logged just `74.96 crore as expenditure, followed by ST Corporation with `52.49 crore, while the BC Corporation had a mere `6.02 crore to show as money spent.

Eighteen of the bodies which were promised `100 crore or around that amount, and received a flat `25 crore each in releases, did not get to spend a single rupee, the government informed the Assembly.

Corporations coming undone?

Name – BE* – Releases** – Utilszed**

SC Corporation – 5,403.72 – 1,706.12 – 74.96

ST Corporation – 2,730 – 125 – 52.49

BC Corporation – 1,370 – 295.09 – 6.02

Minorities Corporation – 1,360 – 75.34 – 6.56

MBC Corporation – 801.85 – 101.70 – 0.99

Washermen Federation – 386.41 – 200.04 – 1.00

Brahmana Samkshema Parishad – 60 – 60 – 60

Toddy Tappers Coop Fin Corp – 187.83 – 63.27 – 52.53

Christian Minority Corporation – 216 – 76.50 – 50.57