MAPUSA
A widow in the State will soon be entitled to social security of Rs 4,000 per month provided she comes under the prescribed annual income bracket and has a child below 18 of age.
Social Welfare Minister Subhash Phal Dessai on Tuesday told the Goa Legislative Assembly that the government is considering providing a beneficiary of Griha Adhar to also avail DSS scheme in the event she becomes a widow.
“We wanted a woman who gets Rs 1,500 per month through the Griha Adhar scheme and becomes a widow, to also get the benefit of Rs 2,500 per month through the DSS scheme so that she could afford to run a family after the death of her husband,” Dessai, said during a discussion during the Question Hour.
He said that the department had moved the file to the finance department but it came back with a remark stating that it would be a burden on the State.
Intervening in the discussion, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed that the finance department was right in sending the file back as a financial provision has to be made before a scheme is brought into force.
He said the department also needed to know the number of widows that would be entitled for such a benefit.
“We are considering the proposal. I will inform the finance department and resolve the issue immediately,” Sawant said.
Sanvordem MLA Ganesh Gaonkar had raised the issue of providing simultaneous benefits of Griha Adhar and DSS scheme to women from weaker sections of the society.
“In the computer age, it is not difficult to obtain data of widows that will be entitled for the dual scheme benefit. Such women should not be made to suffer,” Gaonkar said.
The Social Welfare Minister said henceforward any woman who loses her husband will be allowed to make an application to the department and within three months she would be provided with the benefit.
Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar informed that some people have all the documents but did not have a marriage certificate.
“At times, they even do not have birth certificate of their children who were born outside the State. The government should grant some relief to such families,” Tuenkar said.
Phal Dessai informed that there was a provision where such people needed to file an affidavit.
“We could consider such cases sympathetically,” the minister said.
