PANAJI
A huge number of married women and girl students “ 5,801 and 16,940 respectively “ are awaiting funds under the Laadli Laxmi scheme, a flagship initiative of the BJP government.
The scheme “ a commitment during the 2012 general assembly elections and one of the reasons the saffron party bounced back to power, was implemented to offer financial assistance to prevent the tendency of female foeticides and erase the general perception that the birth of a girl in the family is the burden on her parents/guardian during her marriage. The one-time scheme was subsequently extended for educational and other expenses, with a set of conditions for both categories of applicants.
However, the current state is such that over 20,000 beneficiaries are uncertain about the impending release of funds.
Data available with The Goan reveals that since January 2019, 19,452 applicants were sanctioned the benefit under the scheme. But as of now, each of the 5,801 married women and 16,940 unmarried women are awaiting Rs 1 lakh from the Department of Women & Child Development “ the implementing agency on behalf of the State government.
Highly placed sources confirmed that no deadline is set to disburse payment to sanctioned applicants while several applicants are awaiting approval despite having submitted relevant documents. “We receive numerous inquiries daily but other than assuring the applicants about the release of payment, we are helpless,” the source said.
The circumstances could be due to a drastic reduction of fund allocations over two financial years. Official records indicate an allocation of Rs 10,000 lakh in 2019-20 that rose to Rs 12,390 lakh in 2020-21 and Rs 14,000 lakh in 2021-22. Hereafter, the allocations dropped to Rs 7,587.56 lakh in 2022-23 and almost maintained the same figure this ongoing fiscal year.
Since its inception, the department has sanctioned a total of 80,669 applications. The highest number of beneficiaries 14,517 is in Salcete taluka, followed by Bardez with 11,942, Ponda ranking third with 9,852 beneficiaries, and Tiswadi holds the fourth position with 7,551 beneficiaries.
