SC, ST job schemes turn out to be damp squib

Mahbubnagar: The State government is making tall claims on the implementation of various welfare and self- employment schemes for the Scheduled Castes and scheduled Tribes though SC, ST and BC Corporations. But, the reality is quite different. Despite having released funds running into thousands of crores of rupees. the SC, ST and BC Corporations have failed to help the poor. Not even 10 per cent of applicants under various schemes in the district have so far been benefited.

The main reason for the pathetic state of implementation is due to lack of coordination between the officials of Corporations and the bankers. Adding to it, the callous attitude on the part of the field staff and adamant posture being adopted by the bankers in sanctioning the loans are also the factors that stand in the way of the poor securing loans, though the State government is making all-out efforts for their welfare. The field staff have not been sending the proposals to the head office to identify the prospective beneficiaries. 

The candidates, who apply for loans under various schemes, often complain that the process cumbersome. In fact, it has become a herculean task for the applicants to impress the field staff and finally the bankers to secure loans. 

Here is a case of Venkatiah, who hails from Bandammedipally village under Jadcherla mandal. He had applied for loan under the SC welfare scheme to set up a shop as part of government’s self-employment scheme in the financial year 201718. After his application was cleared by the field officials, it was sent to the bank three months after the process was completed. When the bank summoned him and verified his credentials, he was told to deposit money equal to loan sought as fixed deposit as surety. This came as a big shock to the beneficiary and he approached the higher officials and even complained to the district officials and Corporation officials, but in vain.

Commenting on the harassment, Venkataiah said a bank manager had troubled him a lot in sending his details to the SC Corporation to recover subsidy amount. “The bank officials had asked me to deposit equivalent share of the bank being disbursed as loan to me as fixed deposit in the bank. They said that they would not send my details to the corporation to obtain the subsidy amount. I lodged a complaint on the issue with the lead Bank manager and mandal parishad officers, but in vain," venkataiah poured his owes. 

When asked about the issue with the bank manager Shaheen Sultana said they cannot sanction the loan as the beneficiary did not have enough CIBIL rating. “As per our rules a beneficiary should have 700 score, but the beneficiary only had 560. So, we can't sanction loan to him," She said. 

When contacted with the officials of Telangana State Scheduled Caste Development Corporation on the need for having a CIBIL score, the Corporation officials said as the Corporation is contributing more than 50 per cent of loan, the beneficiary does not require any CIBIL score as per the government guidelines.