Over 14,000 men fraudulently received financial benefits under the Ladki Bahin Yojana, a scheme explicitly meant for economically disadvantaged women in Maharashtra.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) working president Supriya Sule on Saturday alleged massive irregularities in Maharashtra's Mukhyamantri Mazhi Ladki Bahin scheme, claiming that nearly 14,000 men landed on the list of beneficiaries for a welfare program strictly meant for women, siphoning off a staggering Rs 21 crore from the public coffers.
The scheme, launched in August 2024, was tailored to uplift women from economically weaker backgrounds. Speaking to the press in Pune, Sule demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into how these male names found their way into a women-only welfare initiative.
“The government initiates CBI or ED probe even in smaller allegations. It should now announce a CBI probe to find out the contractor, who enrolled these men for the scheme,” she asserted.
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Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who also holds the crucial finance portfolio, swiftly responded to the controversy, acknowledging the blunder and promising corrective action.
“There is no reason to include any man among the beneficiaries. If there are such men, we will recover the amount they received so far. If they do not cooperate, we will have to take strict action against them,” he stated.
Pawar further clarified that some employed women were also found drawing benefits under false pretenses. “Their names have been removed,” he said, underlining the government’s intent to cleanse the scheme of undeserving claimants.
State Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare disclosed via her official handle on X (formerly Twitter) that an alarming 26.34 lakh individuals were found ineligible after the IT department’s scrutiny.
“In some cases, men had also applied. The benefits of all these beneficiaries have been temporarily suspended. Based on district collectors' reports, benefits of the eligible people would be resumed,” she wrote.
