Congress wants govt to declare Dalit Bandhu tax-free: Mohammed Ali Shabbir

Hyderabad: Former minister and Telangana Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Wednesday demanded the State government to declare the 'Dalit Bandhu' scheme tax-free.

In a statement, he said, "Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is not honest towards the 'Dalit Bandhu' scheme. He only aims to win Huzurabad by-elections by duping the Dalit community. The TRS government did not take legal precautions to ensure that the scheme is implemented without any hurdles. Any income above Rs 5 lakh is taxable. Therefore, all beneficiaries of 'Dalit Bandhu' will get notices from the IT department after they receive Rs 10 lakh, they will be forced to pay 15 per cent IT."

He demanded the government to approach the Centre seeking IT exemption for the scheme. "We demand that both the Centre and State declare 'Dalit Bandhu' tax-free and the beneficiaries get the entire amount of Rs 10 lakh without any deductions." The government has released Rs 1,207 crore towards the scheme without issuing detailed guidelines, Ali pointed out.