A massive scheme implemented without a hitch: CM MK Stalin

Chennai: The gargantuan welfare project, Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam (Kalaignar Women’s Rights Scheme), with more than a crore of women beneficiaries, each of them getting a monthly rightful allowance of Rs 1000, had been successfully implemented without any complaints or hitch, thus becoming a model development programme for the entire nation, Chief Minister M K Stalin said.

Speaking at an event organized at the Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai on Friday to mark the addition of 7.35 lakh beneficiaries to the existing pool of 1,06,58,375 women, who had already received the Rs 1000 benefit in the months of September and October, Stalin said no deserving person would be left out of the scheme that would be continuously monitored.

Reiterating that the monthly payment of Rs 1000 was the right of the women heads of families, he said that the total number of beneficiaries now stood at 1,13,84,300 though only 1,06,58,375 of the total  1.63 crore applicants were found to be eligible for the benefit when the scheme, which was a promise given by the DMK in its manifesto for the 2021 Assembly elections, was launched.

The applications received subsequent to the launch on July 15, the birth anniversary of C N Annadurai, were processed by 54,220 government officials at the district and village levels and volunteers of NGOs who went from door to door for verification with a view to identifying the new beneficiaries and including their names in the list, he said.

Talking about the critics, who were cynical of the scheme right from the day it was promised in the manifesto, and their repeated fault-finding ways, he said the people, however, understood the scheme and after the eligibility conditions were made clear in the announcement, only 1.63 persons applied for it though there were a total of 2.24 crore family card holders in the State.

The people did not have to run from one office to another for filing the applications that were collected at special camps held all over the State, he said, recalling that he himself had inaugurated the first camp at a government higher secondary school in Dharmapuri on July 24.

So the usual chaos, jostling and crowding that were associated with welfare schemes in other parts of the country were prevented with the exercise to collect the forms from applicants going on smoothly, to be followed by the scrutiny of the applications and the successful launch of the scheme, he said.

While the payment for the beneficiaries in the first list was credited to their bank accounts, 2,24,956 of them, who did not have a bank account, received the amount through money order. But in the second month of October, arrangements were made for them to open bank accounts for the amount to be duly credited, he said.

Stalin said that the scheme was a collective effort of the community, by quoting a Tamil maxim ‘Oorkoodi Ther Iluthal’ (the entire village pulling the chariot), and acknowledged the contribution of top government officers who would have held at least 50 review meetings to scrutinize the applications and made a special mention about State Minister for Policy Implementation, Udhayanidhi Stalin, for overseeing the entire process.

At the launch event, the Chief Minister handed over ATM cards to 6 women whose name has been added now and would start receiving the monthly payment from December.