Assam removes names of nine lakh ‘ghost children’
GUWAHATI: The names of pregnant mothers and lactating children and children from six month to six years were detected and deleted. These ‘ghost names’ took a huge toll on the state exchequer which is
₹50 crore every year.
STATEMENT FROM CHIEF MINISTER’S OFFICE
The Assam government has deleted around 9 lakh names of ‘ghost children’ from the list of those entitled to state welfare schemes.
A statement issued by chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s office on Friday evening said deletion of the names would bring down the list of beneficiaries to around 35 lakh, and would save the state exchequer nearly ₹150 crore each year.
The social welfare department had been siphoning off ₹150 crore a year from the government coffers in the name of food for nine lakh children who actually exist only on paper.
This came to light when the department started “streamlining” its functioning following instructions from chief minister Sonowal.
“The names of pregnant mothers and lactating children and children from six month to six years were detected and deleted. These ‘ghost names’ took a huge toll on the state exchequer which is Rs 50 crore every year,” the CMO statement said.
In a meeting at Dispur on Friday, the chief minister asked Principal Secretary Social Welfare department Jishnu Baruah to fine-tune the functioning of the department including the Anganwadi Centres and provide nutrition to women and children who are predominantly from the underprivileged section of the society.
Sonowal also asked the Principal Secretary Baruah to expeditiously complete the survey of the specially abled people in the state so that the state government’s decision of providing financial assistance of ₹12,000 each to every divyangjan at the rate of ₹1,000 every month.
He also asked the director of the social welfare department, SS Meenakshi Sundaram, to set up skill development centres for the specially-abled people for their capacity building.
He also asked him that state of the art centre of skill development be set up in Guwahati for the differently-abled.