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Funds under the Gruha Lakshmi and Anna Bhagya schemes have been delayed, with the BJP accusing Congress of making tall promises to win power and then deceiving voters after forming the government
Both chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar dismissed the claims of fund crunch and said the schemes would continue. (PTI)
Top sources in the Karnataka government have confirmed a three-month delay in disbursing funds to beneficiaries under the Gruha Lakshmi and Anna Bhagya schemes. However, the Congress regime clarified that the delay was not due to a lack of funds but “technical issues”.
The Gruha Lakshmi scheme, which provides Rs 2,000 per month to women who are heads of their households—including homemakers, landless women, and agricultural labourers—has seen a three-month delay. With nearly 1.28 crore beneficiaries and an annual budget of Rs 32,000 crore, the scheme has been facing technical issues with the direct benefit transfer (DBT) process, an official from the women and child development ministry explained.
“Until now, DBT transfers were done through a centralised system in Bengaluru. However, the volume of information and documentation became overwhelming, so we decided to decentralise the process. Deputy directors in various districts are being trained to handle DBT transfers monthly. It is only a matter of time before this is streamlined,” the official said.
Gruha Lakshmi and Anna Bhagya are two major schemes under the Congress government’s five guarantees. The other schemes include Shakti (free bus service for women), Yuva Nidhi (financial assistance for unemployed youth), and Gruha Jyoti (up to 200 units of free electricity).
The Siddaramaiah government is under fire from the Opposition, which has alleged that a major financial crisis is behind the delayed payments. The BJP accused the Congress of making tall promises to win power and then deceiving voters after forming the government.
Mehroz Khan, vice-chairperson of Karnataka’s Guarantee Implementation Committee, told News18 that until December, the Congress government had implemented 97 per cent of its guarantees. Apart from the current three-month delay, all previous payments had been disbursed to beneficiaries.
“The delay is due to technical issues, nothing more. It will be resolved soon. If the Opposition wants to cry foul, it’s because they cannot accept that we have been able to keep our promises despite minor technical glitches, which every government faces,” he told News18.
News18 accessed data on fund disbursement under the five guarantee schemes until December 2024:
• Under the Anna Bhagya scheme, 59.66 lakh beneficiaries have been registered, and Rs 9,775 crore has been disbursed, with a backlog of two months.
• Under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, 1.22 crore women are listed as beneficiaries, and Rs 35,180 crore has been disbursed, with a backlog of three months.
• Under the Gruha Jyoti scheme, 1.96 crore beneficiaries are registered, with an expenditure of Rs 16,079 crore.
• Under the Yuva Nidhi scheme, which has 1.78 lakh beneficiaries, Rs 149 crore has been disbursed, according to government claims.
The Congress has denied any financial crisis or failure in payments, urging people not to believe the “rumours” spread by the Opposition.
Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar dismissed the claims of fund crunch, calling them a “bunch of lies”, while insisting that his government would honour all its commitments.
“The Congress government is dedicated to fulfilling its promises, but schemes of this scale take time to manage. We walk the talk. It is not a question of a lack of funds but rather the time required to process and distribute them. Payments under the Anna Bhagya scheme have been delayed by two to three months, but they will be cleared within this month,” he assured.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah too defended the government, asserting that the schemes would continue without interruption. He said he was unaware of a three-month delay in payments and would verify the details.
Backing Siddaramaiah, Khan added, “The chief minister does not oversee the day-to-day execution of schemes. The system operates like a well-oiled machine.”
Union minister Pralhad Joshi, however, claimed that during his visit to Dharwad, he received multiple complaints from people alleging that payments had been withheld for five months.
“As far as I know, the government has not paid people for ration reimbursements in the last five months. Lakshmi funds have also been delayed for three to four months, and this has become a recurring issue,” Joshi said.
Meanwhile, state food and civil supplies minister KH Muniyappa admitted that there was a two-month backlog in Anna Bhagya payments. He explained that funds for the scheme were being disbursed every two months due to technical challenges in processing monthly payments.
The BJP has intensified its attack on the Congress government, demanding an explanation from Siddaramaiah on the Rs 52,000 crore he had claimed was set aside for these schemes in the state budget.
“Where is that money now? People deserve to know. How does a CM not know if money has been given out or not? Isn’t he the finance minister of the state? Have the funds been diverted to other departments, or have they disappeared like the funds from the Valmiki Corporation? None of it is traceable,” alleged Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy.
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Bangalore, India, India
