PANAJI
A delegation of Congress led by party leaders Sankalp Amonkar and Amarnath Panjikar on Wednesday met the Deputy Director of Social Welfare and raised the issue of eight months pendency in payment of financial assistance under the BJP’s flagship schemes, Griha Aadhaar and Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSS).
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Congress leader Amonkar said, “Deputy Director told us that the Department of Social Welfare has completed all the paperwork and forwarded the bills to the Department of Accounts for processing. But the Department of Social Welfare hasn’t received any money yet. However, the Deputy Director told us that the state government has a lot of money. But the Director of Accounts has told us that he has not received any files from the Social Welfare Department. We want to know who is lying.”
Adding to this, Amonkar pointed out that people have not received benefits from March 2020, a period of eight months since the start of the first Covid-induced lockdown.
“Payments of PWD contractors, salaries of teachers and payment for various other works are pending. How can the government lie to us saying they have money and not release it to the beneficiaries on the other hand?” Panjikar demanded.
Govt acts fast, releases Rs 45.29 cr
as one month’s pending assistance
The State government was quick to respond to this and on Wednesday evening, an amount of Rs 45.29 crores was released as one month’s pending assistance to the beneficiaries of Griha Aadhaar and Dayanand Social Security Scheme (DSS) schemes. A press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office stated, “The beneficiaries of DSSY will receive their benefits for the month of June, while those of Griha Adhar will receive the benefits for the month of April.”
