Hyderabad: Staff at the Telangana Urdu Academy’s laboratories and libraries have not been paid for five months, Nampally MLA Mohammad Majid Hussain told the state Assembly on Tuesday, March 24, urging the government to release their salaries immediately.
Raising the issue in the House, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA said 129 employees had gone unpaid through the Ramzan season and more and the situation was no different in other minority institutions across the state. “How does the government expect these staff to sustain their families?” he asked.
Hussain also questioned why no funds had been released to minority youth under the Rajiv Yuva Vikasam scheme this year, despite 2,12,000 youngsters having applied. He pointed out that while Rs 840 crore had been sanctioned and a budget release order issued for Rs 420 crore, not a single applicant had received the benefit.
He urged the government to clear pending Shaadi Mubarak scheme benefits quickly and complete the distribution of 42,000 sewing kits to minority women under the Indira Mahila Minority Yojana, of which only 15,000 units had been distributed so far.
Education, healthcare
The AIMIM leader called for pre-matric and post-matric scholarships – currently available to SC, ST and BC students – to be extended to minorities, and questioned when the government would implement its manifesto promise of the Taufa-e-Taleem scheme for minority students from Class 10 to PhD level.
He also flagged that government offices were being set up inside the Anees-Ul-Gurba orphanage for minority children, and urged the government to complete construction of the Garden View Waqf Mall near the Haj House, for which a foundation stone was laid in 2009 with no progress since.
Hussain raised alarm over the condition of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) houses built during the United Progressive (UPA) government, saying 848 units in Bandlaguda and Uppuguda and hundreds more in Karwan, Gudimalkapur, Puranapul and other areas were now dilapidated. “Even the Collector has declared them to be in a dilapidated condition. Are we waiting for a disaster to happen?” he said.
On healthcare, the MLA drew attention to the shortage of staff, medicines, equipment and operation theatres in several government hospitals in the Old City, including Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, MNJ Cancer Hospital, Niloufer Hospital, Nampally Area Hospital and various Primary Health Centres (PHC). He also noted that the Government Nizamia Tibbi College needed immediate demolition and reconstruction.
Hussain urged the government to establish a new fruit market at Baba Sharifuddin Saheb Pahadi and resolve pending land transfer issues involving defence lands for road widening works, including the proposed Tolichowki-Seven Tombs-Allapur road.
Thanking Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for meeting residents of Bojagutta and Seetarambagh, where 520 houses were demolished nine years ago for 2BHK construction, Hussain pressed for faster execution of the promised work.
