Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries said the new State government had reportedly issued orders to "freeze" their accounts due to lack of money

Karimnagar: Several Dalit Bandhu accounts in the district have reportedly been put on hold leaving beneficiaries in a dilemma. Unable to do transactions, the beneficiaries have been running frantically from banks to the SC Corporation office and back during the last one month. The beneficiaries said the new State government had reportedly issued orders to “freeze” their accounts due to lack of money. However, officials said the accounts were temporarily “put on hold” since a few beneficiaries had made attempts to withdraw the interest amount by adding other accounts to the existing Dalit Bandhu accounts.

The Dalit Bandhu scheme, launched in Huzurabad mandal in 2021, the scheme had 18,021 beneficiaries from different mandals here including Huzurabad municipality (1,623), Huzurabad rural (2,720), Jammikunta municipality (2,264) Jammikunta rural (2,358), Veenavanka (3,009) and Ellandakunta (2,116) and 3,931 from Kamalapur of Hanamkonda district in the first phase.

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A sum of Rs 10 lakh was sanctioned to beneficiaries who selected big units such as passenger transport vehicles, supermarkets, tractors, excavators and so on. Beneficiaries who chose smaller units were sanctioned Rs 5 lakh in the first phase. The second phase amount of Rs 5 lakh was later deposited in their accounts.

However, with some beneficiaries not starting to operate their units, the money was still there in their bank accounts, which they could not withdraw without approval from officials. For some, the second installment too was there in the account. The interest amount for the last two years was also added to the principal amount, following which a few beneficiaries tried to withdraw the interest amount. Knowing about this, the District Collector on December 13 instructed bankers to put these accounts on hold.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Mogili, a beneficiary from Dharmaram of Jammikunta mandal, said that in the first phase, he had purchased four buffaloes spending Rs 6 lakh. Out of the four, one buffalo died due to weather conditions. He then decided to purchase a few more buffaloes to add the existing three. But the bank authorities were asking for a letter from the officials to withdraw the amount, he said.

SC Corporation Executive Director Nagarjuna asked the beneficiaries not to worry since the entire amount was still there in their bank accounts. Some beneficiaries made an attempt to withdraw the interest amount by adding other accounts to their Dalit Bandhu accounts with the help of a mobile app, following which the accounts were frozen temporarily, he said.

On the other hand, some of the beneficiaries have not got the second installment either. About 1,500 to 2,000 beneficiaries, who have not got the second installment, are now running after district officials to get their money sanctioned.