The Opposition parties on Wednesday slammed the state’s AAP government for the “delayed” implementation of the Mukh Mantri Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojana.
Congress leaders demanded that the AAP government immediately clear Rs 54,000 in arrears to every eligible woman under the plan, which they said had been rolled out after a delay of four-and-a-half years.
Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said merely commencing payments from July 1 could not absolve the government of its prolonged inaction. “The government cannot erase four-and-a-half years of inaction by simply launching the scheme today. Every eligible woman deserves the full arrears of Rs 54,000,” he said.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring termed the move “too little, too late”. He said even if payments continued for the remaining six months of the AAP government’s term, Dalit women would receive only Rs 9,000 and general category women Rs 6,000 — a mere 10 per cent of the Rs 90,000 and Rs 60,000, respectively, that they should have got over five years.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked CM Bhagwant Mann “not to dupe women”. He said Rs 55,000 should be deposited in their bank accounts. He said instead of fulfilling the promise made to women, a section of women had been given Rs 3,000 as a three-month instalment.
“This amounts to betraying the women, who are waiting since the past four-and-a-half years for the release of the entire benefit due to them,” Badal added.
