BENGALURU: A committee of the state legislature on SC/ST found that due to undue interference by middlemen and politicians, all benefits of schemes meant for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were not reaching genuine beneficiaries.
In its fourth report tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, the committee has found that due to interference by middlemen and local politicians, all benefits of these schemes were not reaching a majority of those eligible in rural areas. In order to check this malpractice, the social welfare department should draw up a list of genuine applicants well in advance and identify the beneficiaries in rural areas, says the committee. Beneficiaries have been selected for subsidized loans, but banks are rejecting applications of genuine applicants.
Therefore, necessary directions must be issued to banks to process the applications of genuine applicants, says the committee. Besides, to monitor and oversee construction of residential school buildings, the government has not appointed adequate number of engineers. This has resulted in substandard civil works of buildings. In its earlier report, the committee had suggested to handover civil work to PWD department, but these recommendations were implemented so far, according to the committee.
In addition, few residential schools located away from villages, thus resulting in inadequate security for girl students. And women wardens have not been appointed in hostels meant for girls in residential schools.
The committee also reported that in budget for 2015-16, the government earmarked Rs 16,000 crores for SCs/STs development through various schemes.
The departments, however, were unable to utilize the maximum amount due to poor management of the social welfare department and also department’s decision to continue with old schemes instead of implementing new ones, the committee opined.
