Though the government is claiming to have allocated sufficient funds this time in the budget for the welfare of disabled persons, the non-utilization of last years’ budget to its fullest have raise many questions over the governments’ determination to address the issues pertaining to physically challenged people in the state.
The pending loan applications under Economic Rehabilitation Scheme (ERS) and a relatively meager number of units being approved under the scheme is the less arguable but contentious issue that explicitly explains the impassive attitude of the government towards the disabled people.
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The government has allocated Rs.5.5. crore under Economic Rehabilitation Scheme (ERS) in the financial year 2020-2021 which was not at all utilized so far as thousands of applications under the scheme are pending despite the end of the financial year. What is more astonishing is the meager number of 767 units to be approved under the scheme that already attracted over 25 thousand applications.
According to sources the number of applications being received under Economic Rehabilitation Scheme (ERS) is somewhere around 25 to 30 thousand throughout Telangana while the sanction budget hovers around Rs.5.5 crore with only 767 units to be approved under the scheme. The loan amount fixed for approval is varied from Rs50,000 to Rs3.Lakhs. This means out of 30 thousand applicants only 767 will get the approval after scrutiny.
“The process of officials going into the huddle has begun recently but the scrutiny of applications is yet to be done. However, 90 percent of the District Welfare officials have submitted their bills under treasuries as against the budget allotted for the scheme after taking the approval from the respective collectors. However, it is the government who has to make a decision about clearing the bills. Even the Director Disabled Welfare made a representation to the government in this regard,” informed sources.
If the bills get cleared soon, he further said, the scheme will surely set into motion by next month. The mandal and district level committees were busy all these days due to council elections and now they are getting back to their work. However, the whole thing depends on the passing of bills.
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“Yet another financial year is gone without making approval of the applications under the Economic Rehabilitation Scheme (ERS). Atleast 10 to 12 thousand disabled persons from all the 591 mandals have submitted online applications under Economic Rehabilitation Scheme (ERS) and are eagerly waiting to see their applications get approved by the government. Now, when the MLC elections have finally concluded, the government should initiate the process of approving the applications which are by and large pending since 2018,” said President National Platform for the Rights of Disabled (NPRD) Gorenkala Narsimha.
