Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday decided to convene a preparatory meeting for the implementation of the Telangana Dalit Bandhu scheme in four mandals on a pilot basis.

The meeting will be held at Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Telangana chief minister on September 13.

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The chief minister recently announced that Dalit Bandhu will be implemented in four mandals, Chintakani in Madhira constituency, Tirmalgiri in Tungaturthy, Charakonda mandal in Achampet and Kalwakurty constituencies and Nizam Sagar in Jukkal constituency. This is in addition to the ongoing implementation of the scheme on a pilot basis in the Huzurabad Constituency.

Ministers, Zilla Parishad chairpersons, collectors from the four districts of Khammam, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad, legislators from Madhira, Tungaturthy, Achampet, Kalwakurty, Jukkal constituencies, SC welfare minister Sri Koppula Eswar, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, SC Development Secretary, CM Secretary Rahul Bojja, Finance Secretary will participate.

The CM said the Karimnagar district collector will attend the meeting as a special invitee and share his experiences at the ground level while implementing the scheme in Huzurabad.

The government has selected four mandals in four Assembly constituencies, which are represented by Dalit MLAs (constituencies reserved for scheduled castes) in the north, east, west and southern parts of the state.

The scheme will be implemented for all Dalit families in these mandals.

The government has taken up Dalit Bandhu as a movement. It has already released Rs 2,000 crore for the implementation of the scheme for all Dalit families in the Huzurabad constituency.

Under the scheme, every beneficiary Dalit family will get Rs 10 lakh as a grant and they will be free to choose their profession, self-employment or businesses for utilising the funds.

Addressing a public meeting on August 16 in the Huzurabad constituency to launch the scheme, the chief minister had announced that the government will disburse over Rs 2,000 crore to 21,000 Dalit families in Huzurabad in the next two months.

He had also declared that all the 17 lakh Dalit families in the state will be benefited from the scheme.

The scheme implementation across the state for all Dalit families will cost Rs 1.7 lakh crore. He said the government will allocate Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore in the budget every year for 3 to 4 years.