The Telangana government in the state has off late introduced an economic support scheme – also known as bank linkage loan scheme, to benefit people belonging to minority communities that too eight years after coming to power.
The subsidy loan scheme is being implemented through Telangana State Minority Finance Corporation (TSMFC) where loans to the tune of Rs.2 lakhs are being approved with a subsidy rate upto 80 percent.
Contrary to the belief that the government move will bring cheers on the faces of the beneficiaries, exploitation of poor and needy people began the very moment the scheme was introduced as the online seva centers in the city as well as on the outskirts found this opportunity appropriate enough to fleece the people in the name of processing the applications and affecting corrections in aadhar and electoral ID cards.
What is more ironic is the impassive attitude of the government towards making a fool proof mechanism to protect people from getting duped by the staff at online centers. The government, for sure, fails to look into the lacunae in the system before introducing the scheme despite knowing the fact that majority of poor beneficiaries from Muslim community will avail the opportunity as the scheme was relaunched after a gap of eight years.
It is learnt that Rs.400-600 is being charged from the poor people to upload their pleas. Extra money is being asked if there is any correction in the name or date of birth in aadhar or electoral identification cards.
“Process of applying for a loan under a bank linkage loan scheme is not as easy as I had assumed before going for the same,” said Akram, a resident of Mustafa Nagar.
“After visiting the online center near my house, I was told to cross check the name and address in the Aadhar card. Upon finding that the Aadhar was issued on the old address, I went to the online center for correction. However, I was told to pay Rs.400 for a correction and visit the center after a week again,” he rued.
Amid all these exploitation and harassment practices, there were no measures put in play to check irregularities neither from the government side nor from the concerned departments under whose supervision the online centers are operating.
