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| Naveen Patnaik launches the e-transfer scheme for pregnant women in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee |
Bhubaneswar, Oct. 19: As the Biju Janata Dal gears up for Orissa’s upcoming panchayat polls, party president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik today launched a unique scheme that would transfer money electronically into the accounts of pregnant women.
Whether the “cash” being so disbursed under the Mamata scheme would actually translate into votes for the party would be known when the beneficiaries reach the polling booths early next year to choose their new panchayat representatives. Pregnant women registered with anganwadi centres will receive Rs 5,000 in four instalments as part of the scheme. On the day of launching, around 50,000 pregnant women across the state got their first instalment of Rs 1,500 through electronic transfer. Six lakh women will directly benefit from the scheme each year, which would set the exchequer back by Rs 350 crore.
“This is the second biggest scheme of my government after the rice-at-Rs-2-per-kg scheme,” said Naveen.
The scheme aims to cover all pregnant women above 19 years in all the rural areas of the state. Each beneficiary will be eligible for financial assistance worth Rs 5,000 to be paid in instalments, which have been designed to ensure that a pregnant woman gets cash every three months after her second trimester. The last instalment would reach her after her baby gets immunised against measles.
Chief secretary Bijay Patnaik said: “With the introduction of e-transfer of money, transparency will be ensured. The beneficiaries will be directly benefited and the middle man system will be eliminated.”