PANJIM: The Women and Child Development (WCD) Department has served notices to 2,960 beneficiaries of Goa government’s flagship scheme Griha Aadhar to recover the dole amount paid to their spouses, who are in government service.
According to WCD Director Sangeeta Porob, notices have been served to 2,960 beneficiaries for recovering the dole amount paid to their spouses.
“We are in the process of recovering the amount paid to the employees. The recovery has been going on for the last two years,” she said.
The WCD Director said that now the new applications are being accepted only after doing an eligibility verification survey.
She said, “Now the applications are being processed only if the documents like copies of Aadhaar Card are attached with them. The documentation is done by Goa Electronics Limited.”
“It ensures that the payment is not made to any bogus beneficiary. The verification is done by visiting the houses of the beneficiaries.” she said.
Meanwhile, the department has recovered Rs 64,82,490 from 89 government employees whose spouses were paid under the scheme.
Till November 17, 2023, the recovery has been made in 89 cases while notices have been sent to 2,960 beneficiaries, whose spouses are working in government offices,” Porob said, adding the total amount recovered so far is Rs 64,82,490.
The government pays monthly doles of Rs 1,500 under Griha Aadhar Scheme to those whose income limit is Rs three lakh per annum.
In 2019, the State government amended the scheme stating that a married woman, whose spouse is a regular employee with the government department or its corporation/autonomous bodies, are excluded from availing the scheme.
“The Directorate of Women and Child Development has informed that the Griha Aadhar Scheme shall not be applicable for those married woman who or whose husband is employed in any of the entities of Government of Goa on regular basis (contract/daily wages are excluded) such as Government of Goa or its Corporation or Autonomous organisation funded by State government, Government of India or any other State government or its Corporations/Autonomous bodies, Scheduled Banks but excluding Co-operative banks (subject to actual income in case of Co-operative Banks),” the amendment had read.
Porob said as far as new beneficiaries of Griha Aadhar are concerned, 3,921 new applications are pending with the department for Eligibility Verification Survey (EVS) with the committees the number of pending applications are 3,733.
For the Laadli Laxmi Scheme, as many as 5,540 applications are pending with the department for the sanction while since inception 80,669 applications have been sanctioned for the scheme.