Single woman scheme to cost Rs 131 crore every year

HYDERABAD: The single women pension scheme announced by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will cost the state exchequer at least Rs 131 crore every year. Of the total 1.16 lakh women who applied, the state government has cleared applications of 1.09 lakh single women for the Rs 1,000 monthly pension scheme.
Officials said the pension will be released in the first week of June coinciding with the Telangana State Formation Day celebrations.Pension for two months i.e.April and May would be released in tune with the orders of CM KCR to make it effective from April.
However, women's organisations said there are far more number of single women in the state compared to 1.09 lakh figure being projected by the government. “There could be over 2 lakh single women who genuinely deserve to be the beneficiaries of the scheme.Less than a month's time was given for enrolment and not much of publicity was created about the scheme. The state government should extend the date and try to cover all the category of single women including those aged below 30 years,“ said Progressive Organisation for Women leader V Sandhya.
All India Democratic Women's organisation state president K L Asha Latha said about 37 per cent of the total women population in the state are either single women or those heading families. “How can the eligibility list be so small i.e., 1.09 lakh. We had submitted a representation to the state government to also include women below the age of 30 years who have been deserted by their husbands but were yet to get divorce. The state government should continue the enrolment process and ensure that every deserving single women is covered under the scheme,“ she said.
Officials said a total of 5,908 women from Hyderabad district applied for the scheme and of that, 5091 were described `eligible“. The names of women who were already being covered under widow pensions and those who were not below poverty line were excluded from the beneficiary list, said officials.