15k beneficiaries waiting for aid from 7 months, Punjab’s Aashirwad scheme is no blessing
I had borrowed money to organise my sister’s wedding in October. Since then, I have been running from pillar to post but have not received any grant under the Aashirwad scheme LAKHVIR SINGH, Sangrur resident
SANGRUR: The Punjab government’s Aashirwad scheme – earlier known as Shagun scheme – is in doldrums as not even a single beneficiary has been provided financial assistance under it since September last year.
Under the scheme, the state government provides ₹51,000 aid for a girl’s marriage to families belonging to scheduled caste (SC), backward class (BC) and economically weaker section (EWS) categories.
The amount was enhanced from ₹21,000 in July last year. To get the benefits, a person has to apply either before the wedding or within 30 days after the ceremony.
According to figures available with the social justice department, over 15,000 eligible beneficiaries have applied for financial assistance under the scheme at its various local offices in the past seven months, but to no avail.
Lakhvir Singh, 30, a resident of Badrukhan village in Sangrur district, said: “I had borrowed money to organise my sister’s wedding in October. Since then, I have been making rounds of the department’s district office, but have not received any benefit under the Aashirwad scheme.”
Sangrur district welfare officer Gurinderjit Singh said that all claims received before September had been cleared, while rest of the claims were pending for the want of state funds. “We have sent recommendations of eligible claims to the state department, and these will be resolved whenever we receive funds,” he said.
According to Amrit Kaur Gill, who is the state department’s director, the delay was caused due to some changes in the mechanism in order to centralise it. “Therefore, we got the recommendations of eligible claims very late. Now we are all set to release funds under the scheme, and beneficiaries will receive their financial assistance in a few days,” she said.
Gill said that ₹89.64 crore were disbursed to 31,535 beneficiaries under the SC category and ₹44.99 crore to 15,998 beneficiaries under the BC/EWS category in 2021-22.