Ludhiana: The Punjab Government has ordered an inquiry after identifying 1,597 women government employees and pensioners who allegedly applied for or received benefits under the Chief Minister’s Mothers and Daughters Honour Scheme despite being ineligible.
The Directorate of Social Security and Women and Child Development, Punjab, Chandigarh, has written to the heads of all government departments, boards, corporations and public sector institutions, directing them to examine the cases of regular employees who applied for financial assistance under the scheme.
According to the department’s communication, the authorities have been asked to investigate the cases, recover any financial assistance received by ineligible beneficiaries and take appropriate action under the applicable rules.
Under the scheme guidelines, regular or retired government employees and pensioners eligible for government pensions are excluded from receiving benefits. Women who paid income tax of at least ₹1 during the previous financial year are also ineligible.
The scheme provides monthly financial assistance of ₹1,000 to women from the general category and ₹1,500 to women belonging to Scheduled Castes.
The department has identified 1,597 applications involving regular female employees and pensioner-employees across government departments and public institutions. Officials have now been directed to verify the records and proceed according to the scheme’s eligibility conditions.
