<p> The Jagadish Shettar government’s decision to obey BJP strongman B S Yeddyurappa’s diktat to clear all pending applications under Bhagyalakshmi scheme, is costing it dear.<br /><br />The government has agreed to pay a whopping Rs 15 crore to the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) towards interest for the delayed payment of premium with respect to 48,130 girls under the scheme, the applications for which were kept pending for many years. </p>.<p><br />This is over and above Rs 87 crore to be paid to the LIC towards the premium amount – Rs 19,350 for the first child and Rs 18,500 for the second child in a family. <br />Under the scheme, the parents have to submit the applications within a year of the child’s birth. The pending applications were pertaining to the period between 2006-07 and 2009-10. </p>.<p><br />Though the parents had submitted applications within the stipulated period, the department had misplaced them in some cases and some others were kept pending due to errors in documents submitted by the parents.</p>.<p><br />The LIC, which issues insurance bonds for Rs 1,00,097 to be paid to the beneficiaries after 18 years, had refused to include the delayed applications under the scheme as it would incur loss. And the department, as a result, had given up pursuing these cases. However, former chief minister Yeddyurappa, whose pet scheme is Bhagyalakshmi, recently pulled up the department Minister Kalakappa Bandi for expressing difficulty in clearing these cases.</p>.<p><br />BSY’s legacy</p>.<p><br />Interestingly, a large number of these applications were kept pending during Yeddyurappa’s tenure as chief minister. </p>.<p><br />Of the 48,130 applications, 33,519 were kept pending in 2008-09, when Yeddyurappa became the chief minister. In 2006-07, 4,223 applications were kept pending, 9,301 in 2007-08, and 1,087 in 2009-10. </p>.<p><br />The then government headed by Yeddyurappa did not take any interest to get insurance cover to these children. The scheme was started in 2006 when Yeddyurappa was the deputy chief minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government, official sources said.</p>.<p><br />Official sources said the Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka-headed committee, set up by the chief minister to oversee implementation of government programmes and schemes of certain departments, recently took the decision to pay Rs 15 crore to LIC for clearing all pending cases. </p>.<p><br />The committee also directed the department to immediately obtain the Finance department’s approval and start issuing bonds to the beneficiaries.<br />When contacted, Principal Secretary to Women and Child Development department Ramesh Bindurao Zalki said that the government has given directions to clear all pending applications by paying the interest amount to the LIC. Steps will be taken to issue insurance bonds to all 48,130 children soon, he added.</p>.<p><br />Jump in beneficiaries</p>.<p><br />The total number of beneficiaries under the scheme is estimated to go up from the present 14.57 lakh to nearly 17 lakh by the end of this financial year. <br />This is because the department has received 1.31 applications in the current year and about 53,000 applications of the previous year are yet to be cleared.<br /></p>
<p> The Jagadish Shettar government’s decision to obey BJP strongman B S Yeddyurappa’s diktat to clear all pending applications under Bhagyalakshmi scheme, is costing it dear.<br /><br />The government has agreed to pay a whopping Rs 15 crore to the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) towards interest for the delayed payment of premium with respect to 48,130 girls under the scheme, the applications for which were kept pending for many years. </p>.<p><br />This is over and above Rs 87 crore to be paid to the LIC towards the premium amount – Rs 19,350 for the first child and Rs 18,500 for the second child in a family. <br />Under the scheme, the parents have to submit the applications within a year of the child’s birth. The pending applications were pertaining to the period between 2006-07 and 2009-10. </p>.<p><br />Though the parents had submitted applications within the stipulated period, the department had misplaced them in some cases and some others were kept pending due to errors in documents submitted by the parents.</p>.<p><br />The LIC, which issues insurance bonds for Rs 1,00,097 to be paid to the beneficiaries after 18 years, had refused to include the delayed applications under the scheme as it would incur loss. And the department, as a result, had given up pursuing these cases. However, former chief minister Yeddyurappa, whose pet scheme is Bhagyalakshmi, recently pulled up the department Minister Kalakappa Bandi for expressing difficulty in clearing these cases.</p>.<p><br />BSY’s legacy</p>.<p><br />Interestingly, a large number of these applications were kept pending during Yeddyurappa’s tenure as chief minister. </p>.<p><br />Of the 48,130 applications, 33,519 were kept pending in 2008-09, when Yeddyurappa became the chief minister. In 2006-07, 4,223 applications were kept pending, 9,301 in 2007-08, and 1,087 in 2009-10. </p>.<p><br />The then government headed by Yeddyurappa did not take any interest to get insurance cover to these children. The scheme was started in 2006 when Yeddyurappa was the deputy chief minister in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government, official sources said.</p>.<p><br />Official sources said the Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka-headed committee, set up by the chief minister to oversee implementation of government programmes and schemes of certain departments, recently took the decision to pay Rs 15 crore to LIC for clearing all pending cases. </p>.<p><br />The committee also directed the department to immediately obtain the Finance department’s approval and start issuing bonds to the beneficiaries.<br />When contacted, Principal Secretary to Women and Child Development department Ramesh Bindurao Zalki said that the government has given directions to clear all pending applications by paying the interest amount to the LIC. Steps will be taken to issue insurance bonds to all 48,130 children soon, he added.</p>.<p><br />Jump in beneficiaries</p>.<p><br />The total number of beneficiaries under the scheme is estimated to go up from the present 14.57 lakh to nearly 17 lakh by the end of this financial year. <br />This is because the department has received 1.31 applications in the current year and about 53,000 applications of the previous year are yet to be cleared.<br /></p>
