PANJIM: Having tripped on a controversy over non-availability of Laadli Laxmi forms as they were appropriated en masse by ruling ministers and MLAs, the state government has said that the forms would now be available at three major banks next week onwards.
Director of Women and Child Welfare, Sunil Masurkar said that the forms
would be available for a fee of Rs 5, at branches of empanelled banks such as Bank of India (BoI), State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC.
Masurkar said that the people should not visit the directorate’s office as the forms will be available only in banks.
Since the department ran out of 4,000 forms which were printed in the first phase, this time the state government has printed 16,000 forms for the second lot.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, briefing the media persons after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said that HDFC has offered interest rate of 9.25 percent, while SBI and BoI have offered 9 per cent interest rates.
All 78 branches of SBI, 46 branch offices of BoI and 40 of HDFC across the state will stock the forms.
The government has also decided to distribute some of the forms to the Congress and independent legislators, who could not take them during the first time.
All legislators supporting Manohar Parrikar-led government were the beneficiaries of 4,000 forms for Laadli Laxmi scheme, which had invited ire from the opposition benches in the state legislative assembly.
Parrikar claimed that since legislators from the coalition government were aware of the launch, they took the forms. He had assured that the next slot of forms which was then in the process of being printed would be distributed among the remaining MLAs.
The government has ensured that the scheme reaches to all girls between 18 and 40 years so that the benefit of Rs 1 lakh to each of them during their wedding lessens the burden from their families.
The scheme which was finally notified couple of days back has also incorporated certain amendments, after studying the difficulties faced by beneficiaries.
