Bhopal: The health services may be in dire straits in the state but the health department is not ready to allow the woman and child development department to execute the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Matru Vandana Scheme. Both the departments have come face-to-face on the issue.
Due to the dispute, it has been decided to defer presentation of a proposal on the scheme in the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Now, the scheme may be handed over to the health department.
Under the scheme, Rs 5000 is to be given to pregnant women. The woman and child development department had begun work on the scheme and had even selected around 15,000 beneficiaries. The state had registered the highest number of beneficiaries in the country. Amid this, the health department staked its claim for running the scheme. Sources say that the chief secretary B P Singh has decided to handover the scheme to the health department.
Woman and child development minister Archana Chitnis is incensed by the decision and she may request the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for a re-consideration. The argument of the health department is that it is already running the Janani Suraksha Yojana and it should be the nodal department for this scheme too.
In Government of India too, the health and woman and child development ministries had clashed over which of them should run the scheme. Ultimately, the NITI Ayog handed it over to woman and child development ministry. After this, the Government of India had asked the state governments to name the nodal department for the scheme.
The scheme was handed over to the woman and child development department in the state and accordingly, a proposal was prepared for presentation before the department. Now, an amended proposal will be prepared giving health the status of nodal department.
Health department facing staff crunch
The health department is already short on staff. Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana, Rs 1,000 is paid to pregnant women. Around 14,000 cases under the scheme are pending with the department. Initially, the woman and child department was the implementing agency for the scheme, which was run through Aaganwadi workers.
What is Matru Suraksha Yojana?
Under the scheme, Rs 5000 will be paid to pregnant women in three installments. After they get their pregnancy registered, they will be paid Rs 1,000. Rs 2,000 will be paid after they get ante-natal check-ups done while the remaining Rs 2,000 will be paid after delivery.
