Most of 26 lakh suspicious Ladki Bahin beneficiaries found to be genuine, to start getting aid again

Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) Months after the Maharashtra government identified 26 lakh suspected ineligible beneficiaries of the Ladki Bahin scheme, most of them will start receiving payments once again as only around 3 lakh of them were found to be bogus in the verification process carried out so far, an official said.

The benefits of these 26 lakh people were suspended a couple of months back.

State Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare had last month said the Information and Technology Department had provided preliminary information regarding approximately 26 lakh beneficiaries receiving benefits under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin scheme who do not appear to be eligible as per the scheme's criteria.

A detailed scrutiny was launched after that to determine whether these beneficiaries are eligible.

"The transfer of money for 26 lakh beneficiaries was kept on hold after complaints of misuse. But we have now found that most of these accounts are genuine. After verification, payments will resume and dues will also be credited into these accounts," the senior official said on Friday.

While 26 lakh accounts were initially flagged as suspicious, not all of them were bogus, he said.

After physical verification, only two to three lakh bogus beneficiaries were found. Once the entire process is complete, the final number of bogus beneficiaries could be around four lakh, the official said.

The government has already removed the names of 2.26 lakh women from the Ladki Bahin scheme as they were also beneficiaries of the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana.

The Ladki Bahin scheme, which provides Rs 1,500 a month to eligible women, started in August 2024 with the number of beneficiaries being 2.52 crore. At that stage, money was transferred directly into the bank accounts of women identified under the scheme.

After the state flagged 26 lakh accounts as suspicious, only 2.26 crore beneficiaries continued to receive monthly instalments.

Officials said the suspension was a precautionary step to check possible duplication and misuse of data. Verification of the 26 lakh accounts is now nearing completion, with nearly 90 per cent of them already cleared, the official said.

Once the data cleansing is completed, officials estimate that slightly more than four lakh names will be permanently removed from the list.

"The number of beneficiaries will be around 2.30 crore after the deletion, including the genuine account-holders. They will also get arrears for the two to three months when they did not receive money because of the verification process," the official said.

According to him, this exercise would help the government streamline the beneficiary list and prevent duplication across welfare schemes. PTI ND NP