Owaisi alleges scam in Hyderabad school bench purchases

In Hyderabad, Akbaruddin Owaisi, the AIMIM Floor leader, has claimed there is a major scam involving the purchase of benches for government schools. He accused the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government of overpaying for these benches under the ‘Mana Ooru Mana Badi’ scheme. Owaisi stated that while a bench normally costs between ₹4,000 to ₹5,000, they were bought for ₹14,000 to ₹20,000. During a discussion in the Assembly, he pointed out that little work was actually finished under the school scheme. He noted that contractors have not been paid for their work. Owaisi urged the current State government to investigate this issue instead of focusing only on other alleged scams. He also highlighted the poor condition of many government schools, mentioning that thousands still lack toilets. According to a recent report, Telangana is falling behind the national average in education standards. Owaisi criticized the government for allocating only 7.54% of the budget for education in 2025-26, which is much less than the promised 15%. He expressed concern over how the education system can improve with such low funding. Owaisi called for action to reduce the dropout rate and to fill 25,000 vacant teaching positions. He also pointed out the need for more faculty in universities and asked to open more Urdu medium posts.