4.30 lakh names of deceased Gruha Lakshmi beneficaries deleted across Karnataka

BENGALURU: The names of 4.30 lakh Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries who are now deceased, have been deleted across the state. The Women and Child Development Department initiated verification after finding that money was going to the accounts of the deceased.

The Gruha Lakshmi scheme started in August 2023. The names of Gruha Lakshmi scheme beneficiaries were deleted after collecting information from ASHA workers across all gram panchayats. There are a total of 1.28 crore beneficiaries, and among them, the names of the deceased are being removed and this will be an ongoing process.

Removing 4.30 lakh beneficiary names has saved hundreds of crores of rupees to the state exchequer. The Women and Child Development Department began scrutiny due to misuse of scheme funds and the task of identifying deceased beneficiaries under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme has intensified.

In Bengaluru South district alone, scheme money was deposited into the accounts of 6,624 deceased persons. After scrutiny, 4,800 beneficiaries were found to be paying income tax/GST and a total of 12,719 Gruha Lakshmi scheme beneficiaries were cut from the list.

In Bengaluru South district, 2,80,030 women had registered their names for the scheme. The Women and Child Development Department detected misuse of scheme funds and Anganwadi workers were deployed to collect beneficiary information. During this, deceased persons, GST payers, and beneficiaries without Aadhaar seeding were identified and removed from the list of beneficiaries.