Shimla, Dec 13 (PTI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday distributed almost Rs 4,500 each to 2,171 women from the Kupvi area in Shimla district under the Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh-Samman Nidhi Yojana.
He also announced developmental projects worth Rs 81.83 crore for the area.
The CM, who exactly disbursed Rs 97,69,500, said the government will modify the rules of the scheme to address the unique challenges of Kupvi – a remote region with a difficult terrain.
He said that under the revised scheme all women of this region, excluding working women, would receive a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500.
In the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls, the Congress had promised Rs 1,500 monthly to all women in the 18-59 age bracket.
After coming to power, it issued a notification that barred income-tax payers, female monks permanently staying in monasteries, family members of state employees, pensioners of central and state governments, employees of Panchayati Raj Institutions, local bodies and public sector undertakings from getting the allowance.
Other categories excluded from the pension are contractual employees, outsourced employees, daily wagers, part-time employees, ex-servicemen and their widows, aanganwadi workers and helpers, Asha workers, mid-day meal workers, multi-task workers and beneficiaries of social security pension.
Sukhu said he would try to establish Kupvi as a separate ward within the Zila Parishad.
Meanwhile, state BJP chief Rajiv Bindal in a statement said that 28 lakh women in the age bracket of 18 to 59 had been waiting for Rs 1,500 promised under the Samman Nidhi scheme for the past two years. PTI BPL VN VN
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