Gruha Lakshmi money will be credited in a fortnight: Minister

At a time when numerous complaints have emerged about beneficiaries not getting regular payment under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, one of the five guarantees of the Congress government, the government will fix all the glitches within the next fortnight, Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar assured.

Speaking to media persons here, after taking part in a training programme for the Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs), who are co-ordinating implementation of the scheme, Hebbalkar said money was reaching 95 per cent of the beneficiaries, but with the rest, there were technical problems such as absence of Aadhaar seeding with the bank accounts or non-updation of the e-Kyc details.

As on date, 1.16 crore beneficiaries have enrolled for the scheme. According to officials, Aadhaar seeding has not been completed with respect to 3.5 lakh beneficiaries. 

While in several instances, beneficiaries have received money only one for one month, the government will soon credit the pending amount to them, the minister assured. "Those who have registered within August 15 and have not got money after the initial payment, will get three months' amount soon. Those who have registered later, will get arrears depending on when they have registered," she explained. 

In August, there were 1.08 crore beneficiaries, who got the Gruha Lakshmi certificate. In September, this went up to 1.14 crore, and in October, it further went up to 1.16 crore beneficiaries. 

Giving further details, Hebbalkar said the government had credited Rs 2,169 crore to beneficiaries in August. As many as 97 percent beneficiaries received it but 5 lakh people did not get the money because of technical problems. In September, Rs 2,288 crore was released for 1.14 crore beneficiaries. However, only 82% of beneficiaries received the money. As many as 12 lakh families were left out owing to either technical glitches or because of e-KYC problems. The money that the government has released is in the bank and will reach the beneficiaries as soon as the technical problems are resolved, she said. 

In October the government has released Rs 2,400 crore towards 1.16 crore beneficiaries and at present, the government is fixing glitches pertaining to accounts of 7.9 lakh beneficiaries.

"We are getting Aadhaar numbers linked to bank accounts and we are getting accounts opened through post offices. Each day, we are resolving issues pertaining to three districts. Within a fortnight, all beneficiaries will receive money," the minister added.