Hyderabad, Oct 19 (IANS): The Telangana government on Monday released Rs 250 crore for the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme in four mandals on a pilot basis.

The finance department released the money to the Commissioner of Scheduled Castes Development Department. A government order was issued towards this effect.

While Rs 100 crore has been released for Chintakani mandal in Madhira Assembly constituency in Khammam district, Rs 50 crore each are meant for Tirmalgiri mandal in Tungaturthy Assembly constituency in Suryapet district, Charakonda mandal in Achampet and Kaluwakurty constituencies in Nagarkurnool district, and Nizamsagar mandal of Jukkal constituency in Kamareddy district.

The four mandals in east, west, north and south of the state were selected for implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme on a pilot basis, in addition to the Huzurabad Assembly constituency, where the scheme was launched on pilot basis on August 16.

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

The government has already released Rs 2,000 crore for Huzurabad, where the scheme will be implemented in saturation mode.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had recently announced in the Assembly that all Dalit families in the state will be covered under the Dalit Bandhu scheme in a phased manner. He said the state has nearly 18 lakh Dalit families and it requires Rs 1.80 lakh crore to implement the scheme for all the Dalit families.

He said the government is now spending Rs 3,000 crore on the scheme. Before March next year, 100 Dalit families in every Assembly constituency will be covered by the scheme.

He also announced that Rs 20,000 crore will be allocated in next year's budget for the scheme. With this money, 2,000 Dalit families will be covered in each Assembly constituency.