Widows with kids under 21 to be eligible for Rs 4,000 per month

Porvorim: In a bid to ease the financial burden on widows in the state, social welfare minister Subhash Phal Dessai on Friday announced steps to ensure that women don’t lose access to Griha Aadhaar benefits while applying for widow pension.

Dessai also said that a widow will be eligible for a monthly pension of Rs 4,000 if she has a child who has not attained the age of 21 years.

At present, women between the ages of 40 to 79 receive Rs 2,500 from the social welfare department as widow pension when their husband passes away. However, for this, they have to stop their Griha Aadhaar benefits first. This process usually takes a year.

“We are taking an important decision today for widows. The women will not have to cancel the Griha Aadhaar as it will automatically stop on the day of sanction for the widow support scheme. This entire process will take two months at the most. She can directly apply for a pension of Rs 2,500 with the social welfare department and if she has a child, then additional support under Griha Aadhaar will be given till the child reaches the age of 21. So in total, they will get Rs 4,000 per month,” said the minister.

He also announced that the department will conduct a fresh round of scrutiny, including home verification for beneficiaries of the Atal Asara Yojana.

“We got Rs 20 crore allocated for this year and we have received a large number of applications for this. I am giving directions to our field workers to complete home verification and even click pictures of their homes. We will scrutinise applications which have been sanctioned before disbursing funds,” Dessai said.

He then added that the department may require additional funding in supplementary demand for grants to clear all the pending applications.

The minister also said that based on the demand of all the MLAs, govt will consider increasing the financial assistance under the DSSS. “We have to spend Rs 29 crore on these beneficiaries every month. If we increase the amount, we will need Rs 60 crore every month. We have to see our financial capability if we want to increase the amount. I will talk to the chief minister,” said Dessai.

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