Centre ignoring Telangana Betis

Hyderabad: Telangana government has not received any funds under the much-hyped ‘Beti Bachao – Beti Padhao’ (Save Girl- Educate Girl) scheme launched by BJP-led NDA government this year.

Even as the 2017-18 financial year is coming to an end in March, the TS government did not receive any financial assistance for implementation of the scheme. As per the norms, the state and the Centre should provide 60:40 per cent of the total requirement of the funds. The state government also provided a meager Rs 50 lakh to implement the scheme till January end.

Officials of the Department of Women Development and Child Welfare said that the Centre did not pay attention to the implementation of the scheme strictly in the state this year. The state is expecting at least Rs 2 to Rs 3 crore for the implementation of the scheme. 

The Centre has also not released funds to other schemes, including construction of Anganwadi centres under the Employment guarantee scheme, National Mission for Empowerment of women, setting up of Sakhi centres and women helpline, Kishora Shakthi Yojana and Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS). The state has to get nearly Rs 300 crore under various women development schemes from the Centre.

Officials said that the only scheme for which the Union government released funds promptly was Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme. The Centre had released its share of Rs 150 crore for the scheme. The issue of pendency in release of funds for other schemes has already been brought to the notice of the Centre.

On the instruction of the Union Minister of Women Empowerment, the state has already forwarded utilisation certificates (UCs) to the ministry concerned and requested the release of funds before the end of this financial year.

Despite facing fund crunch, officials said that the state government earmarked required funds in every quarter for the smooth implementation of the women and child welfare schemes. "We have been doing our bit and the rest the Centre has to do it," a senior official pointed out.