No change in Amma Vodi rules: Minister Audimulapu Suresh
VIJAYAWADA: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Audimulapu Suresh has asserted that there is no change in the guidelines of Amma Vodi scheme. The State government has increased the electricity consumption limit per month to 300 units from the earlier 200 units as part of the eligibility criteria for the scheme, he said.
Seeking to know whether people who consume more than 300 units of electricity per month are considered poor, he made it clear that government employees and pensioners are not eligible for the scheme. However, the scheme is applicable to sanitation workers. In fact, no new guidelines were framed with regard to the eligibility criteria for the scheme and some guidelines were revised for extending the benefit to more people, he explained.
Speaking to mediapersons in Hyderabad on Friday, Suresh, who held the Education portfolio in the Jagan Mohan Reddy government earlier, said the 75% attendance for students to get the benefit of Amma Vodi is also an existing norm. However, a section of the media was misleading the people on the issue out of frustration, he alleged.
Giving the details, he said the monetary benefit under Amma Vodi was deposited in the bank accounts of 42.33 lakh mothers in 2019-20 and the number of beneficiaries increased to 44.48 lakh in 2020-21. The number is likely to increase further this fiscal with the revised norms, he felt.Suresh said the government also enhanced the family monthly income and the extent of land holding. As part of the criteria, families with a monthly income of Rs 5,000 in rural areas and Rs 6,250 in urban areas were eligible for the scheme in 2019- 20.
The monthly income limit was increased to Rs 10,000 in rural areas and Rs 12,000 in urban areas to extend the benefit to more people, he elaborated. Slamming Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for resorting to ‘conditions apply’ gimmick to deny the benefit of Amma Vodi scheme to a majority of eligible mothers in the State, TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh sought to know why he failed to enlighten the people about his conditions to get welfare benefits at the time of polls in 2019.
In a statement issued on Friday, Lokesh alleged that the much-touted Amma Vodi was only being implemented partially in the State. The Chief Minister who denied one-year benefit of Amma Vodi to the mothers, was taking away Rs 1,000 from the total amount in the name of maintenance of toilets in schools.
The benefit was now being denied for households who consume more than 300 units of electricity per month, besides laying out the condition of 75% attendance for students to get the benefit. The implementation of Amma Vodi was further restricted with new conditions of Aadhaar card update as per the reorganisation of districts and new rice card to get the benefit, the TDP MLC pointed out.
Alleging that the ‘conditions apply CM’ had betrayed women of the State in implementing every welfare scheme he promised, Lokesh demanded that the Amma Vodi benefit be extended to all the eligible mothers.