Rupashree: At least 2.88L benefited, over Rs 954 cr spent in current fiscal till March 10

kolkata:The pandemic that hunkered down the nation has not been a deterrent in extending benefits of the Rupashree scheme with the number of beneficiaries being nearly 2.88 lakhs in the ongoing fiscal from April 2021 to March 10, 2022. The expenditure for this scheme has been to the tune of over Rs 954 crores this year, the highest since the inception of the scheme.

As per statistics of the state Women and Child Development & Social Welfare department which is implementing the project, over 2.52 lakh applications were sanctioned in the year 2018-19. In the next financial year 2019-20, the total number of applications sanctioned was 2.72 lakhs.

In the 2020-21 fiscal the total number of applications sanctioned were 3.13 lakhs while in this fiscal till March 10, the total applications received have been over 3.22 lakhs out of which 2.88 lakhs applications have been sanctioned with an expenditure of over Rs 954 crore. So, overall 12.49 lakh applications have been received among which 10.85 lakh beneficiaries have received financial assistance till date. The total expenditure has been to the tune of Rs 3054.19 crore.

In several cases, the department has disbursed money to the beneficiary's account on the very day of the wedding, in cases when applications have been received seven days back to ensure that the family of the bride is not inconvenienced. "We need to do an enquiry to ascertain genuine beneficiary before disbursing the monetary benefit. So we prefer applications to be made within a period of 30 to 60 days before marriage," Shashi Panja, Women & Child Development and Social Welfare minister said.

The scheme, a brainchild of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that was launched from April 1, 2018, provides a one-time financial assistance of Rs 25,000 to the family of a girl at the time of her marriage, if her family income is less than Rs. 1,50,000/- per year.

The woman must be a permanent resident of West Bengal and be above 18 years at the time of her marriage with a cap on the annual family income of Rs 1.5 lakh. No minimum educational qualifications are required to apply for the scheme. According to a senior official of the state Women & Child Development department many poor families find it extremely difficult to bear the expenditure of marriage of the daughters and have to borrow at a high rate of interest to bear the expenses.