Now women will also get free gas cylinders under this scheme, click to know details
Ahead of the assembly elections, the Mumbai government in June gave a huge relief to the voters in the budget, which also included a plan to give three free gas cylinders to 52 lakh families. According to Priyanka Kakodkar's report, now this scheme has been expanded to include beneficiaries of the Chief Minister Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana for underprivileged women.
Official sources said that this will triple the number of beneficiaries to about 1.5 crore and the burden on the government exchequer will increase from Rs 860 crore to Rs 3,200 crore per year. The Chief Minister Annapurna Yojana was targeted for beneficiaries of the Center's Ujjwala Yojana, which provides a subsidy of Rs 300 per cylinder.
The state government is going to give an additional subsidy of Rs 500 to cover the full price of the gas cylinder. Under the Ladki Bahan Yojana, underprivileged women aged 21-65 years will get a stipend of Rs 1,500 every month.
1 crore Majhi Ladki Behan beneficiaries to get Rs 1,500 and free cylinders
Under the Ladki Behan scheme, only one beneficiary per household can avail of the Annapurna scheme, under which three free gas cylinders will be given every year, the official said, adding that the cylinder should be in the woman's name.
It is targeted at beneficiaries of a central scheme. While the Ujjwala scheme offers a subsidy of Rs 300 per gas cylinder, the state had to pay an additional subsidy of Rs 500 to cover the full price of a cylinder.
"For claimants under the Ladki Behan scheme, the state has to pay the full amount of Rs 800 to cover the price of the cylinder as they will not get subsidy under the Centre's scheme," a senior official said.
"Out of the 2.5 crore women expected to be covered under the Laarki Behen scheme, the government estimates that 1 crore of these beneficiaries will also benefit from the Annapurna scheme. This means that half of the Laarki Behen beneficiaries will get access to both schemes. "The estimated 1 crore beneficiaries under the Ladki Behen scheme will get a stipend of Rs 1,500 per month and three free gas cylinders from the government," a senior official said.
After winning only 17 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the recent elections, the Shinde government has handed out a whopping Rs 96,000 crore to voters in the assembly pre-poll budget. The result is a massive debt burden of Rs 7.8 lakh crore estimated for the coming year. With the expansion of the scheme, the Mahayuti government appears to be banking heavily on women voters ahead of the polls in October. "The Ladki Behen scheme, which is estimated to cost Rs 46,000 crore per year, is on the lines of the Madhya Pradesh government's Ladli Behen scheme, which helped the BJP return to power in that state.
44 lakh online applications have been received in two weeks for the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Behen Yojana. Under the scheme, underprivileged women are given Rs 1,500 every month but it faces problems like form filling fees and reliability of the app.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde vowed to take strict action against those demanding money for applying for the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Behen Yojana. Under the scheme, eligible women are given a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 and Shinde stresses free registration and a smooth application process.
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