Minister for Women and Child Development Laxmi Hebbalkar has clarified that there is no deadline for submitting applications for the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which seeks to provide ₹2,000 to every woman head of the family in the State.
Responding to queries from reporters outside Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills in Mysuru on Saturday, Ms. Hebbalkar said an app designed to submit applications for the scheme will be presented to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during the next Cabinet meeting and a date for starting the application process will also be announced on the same day.
While the date for the start of application process will be announced after the next Cabinet meeting, the government will start depositing money into the accounts of the beneficiaries will start from August 17 or 18, she said. “There is no deadline for submitting the applications. It will be a continuous process,” she said, in an effort to drive away the anxiety among the public over the issue. “The applications can be submitted from not only the comforts of your homes, but also from cyber cafes, Grama One or Bapuji Seva Kendras,” she added.
Denying charges that the government was delaying the implementation of the scheme to bide time for mobilization of revenue, Ms. Hebbalkar said the government was only keen to prevent the load on the server like the application process for Gruha Jyothi scheme had caused.
The application process is completely free, she said appealing to the general public against entertaining middlemen.
The software designed for the application process will issue an acknowledgement after the application is accepted. It will filter out ineligible applicants, she said, adding that the applications of women with Aadhaar numbers linked to Income Tax Payees and Goods and Service Tax (GST) payees will not be accepted. “If an acknowledgement is issued, your application is accepted,” she said while adding that the successful applicants will get a hardcopy of the acknowledgement.
The scheme is expected to benefit women heads of a total of 1.12 crore families across the State including about 78,000 women in Belagavi Rural, where there are a lot of BPL families, she said.
She said she had visited Chamundi Hills to fulfil a vow she had taken for the victory of the Congress in the elections. She said had also offered prayers for rains so that the problems plaguing the farming community are driven away.
