The Maharashtra Assembly, on Wednesday, saw sharp exchange of words between the Treasury benches and the Opposition over alleged corruption in the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana for women, after the Government admitted that some 8,000 State employees received aid under the scheme despite being ineligible. Admitting the fact, Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare also informed the House that the Government will crack down on such individuals. Recovery from ineligible beneficiaries will be made, she assured. According to information, about 14,000 women who did not have bank accounts used their husbands’ accounts to receive the monthly aid of Rs 1,500 under the scheme.

 

Many of such women had already availed the benefits, she said, adding that their accounts would be scrutinised over the next two months. “Some 8,000 employees from various State departments have been found taking benefit of the Ladki Bahin scheme. They cannot take such benefit. The State Government has started recovery of the amount from such beneficiaries,” Tatkare said. MLA Sunil Prabhu of Shiv Sena (UBT) had raised this issue in the Assembly. During the discussion, he said, 14,998 men have received benefits under this scheme in the last 10 months. Similarly, approximately 26 lakh bogus beneficiaries have been identified in the state. However, the action taken against them has not been revealed yet. Rs 5,136 crore spent on male beneficiaries.

 

Prabhu added that a total of Rs 5,136 crore have been spent on 14,998 male beneficiaries. Replying to the questions, Women and Child Welfare Minister Tatkare said, a total of 2.63 crore beneficiaries had applied under the Ladki Bahin scheme in the State. After scrutiny, the applications of 2.43 crore beneficiaries were accepted. Since the state government runs various schemes, beneficiaries are often associated with different departments. Therefore, information about their beneficiaries was sought from these departments. Only the Information and Technology Department provided information about 2.6 million beneficiaries who were also getting benefits from other schemes.

 

 

Minister Aditi Tatkare said, over 8,000 (including men) beneficiaries working in Government departments have also been identified. Letters have been sent to the District Collectors to start recovery from such beneficiaries. Tatkare assured that the recovery will be completed within 2 months. During the discussion, MLA Jayant Patil said that the Ladki Bahin scheme was announced in a hurry before the Assembly elections. Distributing funds to the beneficiaries without proper inquiry has created confusion. Now, to reduce the number of beneficiaries, inquiries are being made under the guise of some kind of scrutiny. Despite Jayant Patil and Nana Patole repeatedly raising the question of when the Rs 2100 will be given, Tatkare did not respond. As a result, the Opposition staged a walk out. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the Ladki Bahin scheme will never be closed. He said that he will fulfill all the promises he made at the right time. Do not speak against the Ladki Bahin scheme. “Don’t speak against it now. You tried to sabotage the plan by sending one of your workers--Wadpalliwar to court,” Shinde said to Nana Patole.