SANGAREDDY: Negligence by the Revenue officials and a lack of funds has hit the implementation of the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes in erstwhile Medak district. Applicants say that village revenue officers (VROs) often keep their documents pending for months at a time for long-winded ‘inquiries’. Applicants are made to visit Revenue department offices multiple times. Some have accused the VROs of seeking bribes before they clear applications.
Beneficiaries, on their part, are willing to excuse some of the delay. They understand that the distribution of cheques was delayed between December 2018 and May 2019, during which a series of elections were held in Telangana, including Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. However, it is the delay now, after the elections, that irks them. With municipal elections approaching, things are only going to get worse.
K Mahender Reddy, whose application has been pending for more than two months, told Express: “I had applied under the scheme for my sister’s wedding. The VRO kept my application pending for two months. I complained to the Tahsildar but to no avail. The VRO kept asking me to get various documents. My problem was solved only after I approached the district collector.”
There are nearly 3,000 people like Mahender Reddy across erstwhile Medak district, who are eagerly awaiting their applications to be cleared. Around 650 of them are in the Sangareddy-Medak, 300 in Narsapur and 700 in Siddipet divisions.
Revenue officials from Sangareddy and Narsapur divisions said they had written to the government for the release of funds for the two schemes, but things are yet to improve.“The scheme is meant to help the poor at the time of the wedding. But by the time they get the money, it is only useful to clear debts,” said an applicant, seeking money to get his daughter married.