Minority welfare spending in Telangana has come under fresh scrutiny after senior BRS leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail alleged that only 38.7 per cent of funds allocated for welfare schemes were utilised over two financial years, while delays in scholarships and fee reimbursement continued to affect students.
Sohail said government figures showed that Rs 1,972.17 crore was spent against an allocation of Rs 5,100.97 crore for minority welfare schemes over the two-year period. The figures indicate an unspent difference of Rs 3,128.80 crore, according to the amounts cited by him.
For 2025-26, Sohail said the government spent Rs 1,010.63 crore against Rs 2,844.02 crore allocated for minority welfare. That represents an unspent difference of Rs 1,833.39 crore for the financial year, based on the figures presented in his statement.
The BRS leader accused the Congress government and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) of a “double failure” on minority welfare. He alleged that the recent Legislature session exposed both poor utilisation of allocated funds and inadequate political pressure on the government to implement welfare measures.
Sohail also said delayed scholarships and fee reimbursement had affected minority students, with pending dues becoming a major concern. The supplied report does not provide the number of pending applications, the amount of outstanding dues or a scheme-wise breakdown of the expenditure figures.
He criticised AIMIM’s representation in the Assembly, alleging that the party had not applied sufficient pressure on issues involving scholarships, fee reimbursement and Waqf properties. The criticism forms part of a political statement by the BRS leader, and no response from the Congress government or AIMIM was included in the report.
Sohail demanded that the government publish a scheme-wise statement detailing allocations, releases, expenditure, beneficiaries and pending applications. He said minority welfare beneficiaries needed pending scholarships cleared, welfare schemes implemented, Waqf properties protected and the funds allocated for their development spent in full.
The demand for scheme-level disclosure would provide details beyond the aggregate figures cited in the statement, including whether lower utilisation resulted from delayed releases, unspent balances, administrative processing or a shortfall in beneficiary payments. No official timeline for publishing such a statement was given in the supplied report.
