Delhi govt depts disown Kejriwal's 'mahila', elderly welfare schemes

Under Mahila Samman Yojana, AAP promises Rs 2,100 monthly allowance, and under Sanjeevani free treatment to voters above 60

After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress termed two of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s recently announced welfare schemes a hoax, two senior Delhi government officers issued public notices on Wednesday disowning these schemes.

 

With the Delhi Assembly set to expire on February 23, the Election Commission (EC) is likely to announce the poll dates soon, and the war of words between the three principal parties in the fray — the ruling AAP, BJP and the Congress — has become more rancorous with each passing day.

 

Over the past few days, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal have launched a drive to register Delhi’s voters for two of their party’s proposed welfare schemes — the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana, and Sanjeevani Yojana.

 

 

Under the Mahila Samman Yojana, for which Delhi’s 2024-25 Budget had allocated Rs 2,000 crore, eligible women will get a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000. This Yojana received the Delhi cabinet approval earlier this month only. Now, the AAP has promised to increase this allowance to Rs 2,100 if it returns to power.

 

Under the Sanjeevani scheme, the AAP has promised that those over 60 years of age among Delhi’s voters will be treated free of cost in government- and private-run hospitals. Expense incurred on treatment under Sanjeevani will have no upper limit, or so the AAP has promised.

 

AAP sources have claimed that the party has deployed 3,000 workers to register Delhi’s voters under the two schemes, with 150,000 having registered under the Sanjeevani scheme and 1.3 million women under the Mahila Samman Yojana. AAP’s target is to register 500,000 women under the scheme each day.

 

On Wednesday morning, the Delhi government's Women and Child Development, and Health departments issued public notices that disowned the two schemes. In notices published in newspapers, the two departments cautioned people against providing personal details to anyone on the pretext of registration for "non-existent" schemes, saying any private individual or political party collecting such physical forms or information is "fraudulent and without any authority".

 

Kejriwal responded by stating that AAP’s opponents were “rattled” by the two welfare schemes. He alleged in a post on X that his opponents have hatched a plan to slap a false case against Atishi and engineer her arrest in the next few days.

 

The AAP chief also alleged that BJP leader Parvesh Verma sought to project himself as his party’s chief ministerial candidate and has taken to distribute Rs 1,100 in cash to women in Delhi. He urged the city’s women to queue up to collect that money but vote for AAP. Atishi said her government, once it returns, will take disciplinary action against the officials behind the two notices.

 

However, the “Services” department of the Delhi government, after a tweak in the law, comes under the jurisdiction of Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG), who as the administrator of Delhi has the final say in transfers and postings of officials.

 

In its notice, Delhi’s Women and Child Development department said that if and when the Mahila Samman scheme begins, the department will launch a digital portal for eligible individuals to submit their application online as per the approved guidelines. Since no such scheme exists, the question of physical forms for registration under this non-existent scheme does not arise, read the notice.

 

The BJP and the Congress leadership slammed Kejriwal and the AAP, questioning why the AAP government had failed to fulfil its promise to women in Punjab, which it rules, of a monthly allowance.

 

Congress leader Ajay Maken called Kejriwal “Farziwal” and “anti-national”, and said his party’s support to Kejriwal’s 40-day government in 2013 has been the primary reason for the “weakening” of the party in the national capital. There is a need to rectify the repeated mistake of (Congress) aligning with AAP, as it did in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Maken added.