Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday sought the Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s help to facilitate direct transfer of cash subsidies and other financial assistance to 30 lakh beneficiaries of various central and Delhi Government-sponsored schemes in the city.
Addressing a meeting of Chief Ministers of North Zone States, chaired by Chidambaram, Dikshit strongly pushed for direct transfer of cash entitlements into the bank accounts of poor beneficiaries to curb leakages, diversion and corruption.
She requested Chidambaram to “remove the obstacles” in opening no-frill bank accounts by beneficiaries so that the Government can implement its plan of providing them cash subsidies and other grants such as old age pension through electronic fund transfer.
Dikshit said poor people had been finding it difficult to open bank accounts, as banks have been insisting on documentary proof of the residence despite presentation of Aadhaar card.
She also suggested directing all Government banks to put up notices in all branches stating the procedure and documents required for opening up of no-frill accounts.
“The Government has to transfer Rs 1,500 crore to the beneficiaries through electronic fund transfer. We want the banks to put in place a hassle-free process for opening of bank accounts by the poor people,” she said.
According to officials, about 3.19 lakh no-frill accounts were opened in Delhi by various banks last year, while the number has reached 19.81 lakh in the current year. The Delhi Government wants the remaining 10 lakh accounts opened before end of the current fiscal.
The Delhi Government had allocated Rs 550 crore for 2012-13 to pay monthly pension to senior citizens, while a total of Rs 110 crore was being spent on giving financial assistance to women in distress. It had set aside Rs 100 crore for providing assistance to young girls under the Laadli scheme
Dikshit said her Government was moving towards ensuring direct cash transfer to beneficiaries under all welfare schemes and added that 65 per cent of the plan allocation in 2012-13 has been made for social sector schemes.
In August, Delhi government had requested the Centre for providing an option of direct cash transfer to BPL families instead of food grains under the Food Security Bill which is being vetted by a Parliamentary panel.
In the meeting, Dikshit announced that her Government would launch a major food security programme on December 15, under which cash subsidy of Rs 600 a month would be given to two lakh vulnerable households not covered by BPL scheme and Antyodaya Anna Yojana.
She said the cash subsidy would be transferred directly into the bank account of the senior most female member of the family.