RANCHI: Women in Jharkhand are yet to receive Rs 2,500 under Maiyan Samman Yojana for the past two months. The last payment for December was made on January 6 when the Hemant Soren government had transferred Rs 11,415 crore to the bank accounts of 56.62 lakh women.
Delay in payments has irked beneficiaries, making them question whether the scheme will even continue for five years. “The way payments are being delayed, it appears that the scheme will not last long. It was for nothing other than getting votes of women. Now, since they have won the elections, they have lost interest in thescheme,” said Shanti Devi, a recipient from Hazaribagh.
“All the installments were credited into women’s bank accounts smoothly before polls, but as soon as the elections were over, it started getting de- layed,” she alleged.
State BJP president Babulal Marandi has questioned the rationale behind providing assistance of Rs 2,500 to young women, while widows and elderly women are receiving pension of only Rs 1,000. “The government should reconsider the decision,” he said.
According to government sources, payments under the scheme are getting delayed due to ongoing physical verification of beneficiaries following reports of irregularities in many districts.
Following reports that several ineligible women were recieving the benefits, a campaign was launched in the state to remove their names from the beneficiary list.
Rural Development Minister Dipika Pandey Singh said, “The pending amounts of two months will be cleared by March.” Government sources said the beneficiaries may get the payments together on Women’s Day or Holi. But the social security cell at the district level has not yet received departmental instructions to release the installments of January and February.
Meanwhile, hearing a case related to the education department, the Jharkhand High Court has sought detailed information about the funds spent in the Maiyan Samman Yojana so far.