Ladki Bahin scheme’s December payout by month-end, says Maharashtra minister Aditi Tatkare | Pune News

Maharashtra minister Aditi Tatkare

PUNE: State women and child development minister Aditi Tatkare on Monday said the Dec disbursements under the Ladki Bahin scheme would be credited to beneficiaries’ bank accounts by month-end.
Tatkare said her department was expediting the process to ensure timely disbursements after several discussions on payout delays. “We should be able to complete the disbursement for Dec by the end of the month,” she said.
The minister reiterated that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had stated during the Nagpur assembly session that the complete disbursement of Rs 1,500 each for the beneficiaries would be completed by month-end, while clearing doubts about the scheme not continuing.
The previous disbursement, covering both Oct and Nov, was processed on Oct 9 before announcement of the assembly election, benefiting about 2.34 crore beneficiaries. The minister hinted that verified applicants who did not receive any payouts under the scheme so far would be included in the Dec round. Tatkare emphasised that all documentation was undergoing verification, with disputed applications subject to a comprehensive review.
CM Fadnavis said one of the first measures of his govt would be to examine the list of the beneficiaries to weed out those ineligible for the scheme. “There are complaints about the beneficiaries not complying with the parameters, and their scrutiny is necessary. The scrutiny will be on the lines of the PM Kisan Yojana, where the ineligible beneficiaries gave up benefit on their own,” the CM stated during the Nagpur assembly session.
Fadnavis also said the proposal to hike the payout from Rs 1,500 per beneficiary to Rs 2,100, as promised in the manifesto, would come into effect from the next financial year.
At present, Maharashtra has over 2.43 crore beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin Yojana, under which a monthly cash benefit of Rs 1,500 is credited into accounts of beneficiaries, and for which the state pays Rs 3,700 crore per month.
Dy CM Eknath Shinde, at a press briefing, stated he directed the bureaucracy to transfer the Dec instalment into accounts of beneficiaries immediately. “The scheme has played a key role in our election success. It will not be scrapped,” he said.