Former minister meets CM, seeks sub-Plan for Muslims

HYDERABAD: The Congress and MIM have reportedly reached a tacit understanding to pressurise the state government to create a sub-Plan in the budget for the minorities on the lines of that for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
While MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi took up the issue with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy last week in a meeting, former minorities minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir submitted a memorandum to him on Wednesday on the subject.After meeting the CM, Shabbir told TOI that he has received a promise from Kiran Kumar Reddy that as a first step a sub-committee would be set up to debate the issue and recommend the viability of coming up with the sub-Plan. Both Owaisi and Shabbir are of the view that the sub-Plan for the minorities should be around Rs 5000 crore.
MIM MLC Amin Jafri said that sub-Plan could be created by asking various departments to allocate funds for the exclusive use of minorities. "According to our calculation the sub-Plan for minorities could be in the range of Rs 5,390 crore. This calculation is based on the percentage of the minorities in the total population. It is around 15%. One of the state ministers has also written to the Centre asking for sub-Plan for backward classes," he said.
According to sources the nine-member committee that had been set up by the government under the leadership of deputy chief minister Damodar Raj Narsimha on SC and ST issue has almost completed its task and will be submitting its report soon.
Shabbir who met the CM along with M Sultan Ahmed, S K Afzaluddin and Mohammed Zakir, said the demand for the sub-Plan is being made through different forums. Recently the minority cell of the state Congress held a conference wherein a resolution in this regard was passed. He added that the Muslims in urban and rural areas have not received their due share in various central and state government schemes. While their population share in the state is 12%, what they received under housing schemes or distribution of lands etc is only around 1%. He also said the Muslims should be encouraged to set up IITs and start courses for youth with lower academic qualification in collaboration with institutions like National Construction Academy.