Hyderabad: Scheduled Castes Development Minister Koppula Eshwar said the State would urge the Centre to exempt financial assistance being released under the Dalit Bandhu scheme from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) net. The State government was providing financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to each beneficiary under the scheme.
Responding to a suggestion made by member MS Prabhakar Rao during Question Hour in the Legislative Council on Saturday, the Minister assured the House that the matter would be taken up with the Centre.
Centre’s new norms for Post Matric Scholarship for SCs creating hurdles
Koppula Eshwar said the State government was paying the entire amount of Post-Matric Scholarship for SC students. Replying to a question, the Minister said since the State was not comfortable with the new norms brought by the Centre, it had decided to bear the entire scholarship burden on its own.
HRDCL completes Rs 323.67 crore worth works
MA&UD Minister KT Rama Rao informed the House that about 25 works totaling 27.20 km of road works costing Rs. 323.67 crore undertaken by the Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited (HRDCL) were completed and 12 works totaling 18.03 km costing Rs. 191.25 crore were under progress.
He further informed that 784 works worth Rs 162.58 crore of road maintenance in the Old city were undertaken and of them 158 works costing Rs 27.89 crore were completed. Road widening works costing Rs 280 crore were undertaken in the Old City, of which works worth Rs 5.95 crore were completed.
Fish production touches 4.38 lakh tonnes
Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said fish production in the State had touched 4.38 lakh tonnes, with a growth rate of 12.4 percent. Implementation of integrated Fisheries Development Scheme with an outlay of Rs 1,000 crore had benefitted 3.26 lakh fishermen.
3,98,338 sheep units distributed
BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar said 3,93,552 sheep units were distributed during the first phase and under the second phase so far, 4,786 units were distributed. As per the 20th livestock census by the Centre, Telangana stands at top with 191 lakh sheep population. Financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh was being provided to all beneficiaries belonging to Most Backward Classes on par with Backward Classes.