‘Made the mistake of giving financial benefits to all women’: Ajit Pawar on Ladki Bahin Yojana; Udhav Sena cries voter bribe. Bharat News

New Delhi: Maharashtra’s sub -seema Ajit Pawar on Monday admitted that the state government made a “mistake” to all the applicants of Mukyamant in increasing the financial profit, without adequate investigation, blamed the lapse due to lack of time before last year’s assembly elections.The news agency PTI said, “We made a mistake to give financial benefits to all women (applicants). We had very little time to examine applications and identify unqualified people. At that time, elections were to be announced in two to three months.”The Ladki Bahin scheme launched in August 2024, provides Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women between the ages of 21 to 65, with an annual income below Rs 2.5 lakh. Although it was designed to empower poor women, the investigation revealed thousands of disqualified recipients, including more than 2,200 government employees.Pawar, who is also the head of the state’s finance department, clarified that the assistance already deposited would not be withdrawn. “When the plan was unveiled, the government appealed that only eligible women apply, but not. An investigation is being done. Only needy women will get monthly payments,” he said.His entry gave strong reactions from the opposition. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut demanded Pawar’s resignation, accusing him of enabling the misuse of public money to get electoral benefits. Raut said that the Finance Department presided over the “loot of government money for votes”.Earlier, Maharashtra Minister Aditi Tatakre confirmed that the government had disqualified 2,289 disqualified government employees after investigating about two lakh applications. In a post recently on X, he assured the public that such investigation would continue regularly. “After realizing this, such beneficiaries are not being given the benefit of the scheme,” he wrote.The Ladki Bahin scheme was credited to increase the performance of the Mahayut alliance in the November 2024 assembly elections. However, it has also given birth to budgetary stress. Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shisat admitted that the government was under pressure, saying, “It is a reality that a monthly amount of Rs 1,500 cannot be increased to Rs 2,100.” He said that this scheme will continue even when the state needs to borrow money.Shirasat criticized the Finance Department for withdrawing funds from his ministry without any notice. In March, he alleged that Rs 7,000 crore was reduced to the budget of the Social Justice Department, and on Monday, he called for a law to protect such departments from arbitrary cuts.According to the official guidelines, beneficiaries should meet income and residence criteria and provide base-linked bank accounts. If their name is not visible on the ration card, then newly married women can present marriage certificates. While the objective of this scheme is to support the economic freedom of women, the government is now facing increasing investigation on its execution.