Corruption In 'Ladki Bahin'? #PeekTV #News #Maharashtra #Scheme#BJP #Politics #Shorts #Investigation

Where is our taxpayer money even going? If you ask this question every monsoon season in Mumbai, the answer is we might never get to know. Yes, the BJP-led government in Maharashtra has spent Rs 3,500 crore under one scheme without telling people where they actually spent it. The Mukhi Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana was one of the biggest poll planks and freebie schemes of the BJP-led alliance to win the Maharashtra elections in 2024. And now, a report by the top government auditor CAG has found discrepancies in the implementation of the scheme. CAG has found that Maharashtra's Women and Child Development Department spent Rs 3,451 crore under the scheme in 2024-25 without providing any specific justification about where they actually spent it. A total of around Rs 29,700 crore was authorised as the budget for this scheme last year, but the government spent Rs 33,200 crore without any due explanations. That's not it. There's another big discrepancy. Under the scheme, women between the age of 21 and 65 that have an annual family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh can get Rs 1,500 a month from the government through a direct benefit transfer. Now, before this amount is sent to beneficiaries, it's stored in government-managed accounts called virtual personal deposit accounts. Money is supposed to be transferred to these accounts only when there a near payment requirement But the CAG report has found that more than Rs 15 crore was withdrawn from the scheme funds and transferred to these deposit accounts in the last quarter of the financial year even though there was no immediate payment requirement. CAG clearly says that such parking of funds undermine the principles of budgetary discipline. The question here is, why did the government draw almost half the scheme's funds when there was no immediate payment needed? Now, let me also tell you here how critical these funds are. Some of these freebie funds are actually coming from money that was meant to give you basic facilities. Primarily because of this Larki Bahin Yojana, the Maharashtra government's expenditure on women's welfare jumped from 261 crore rupees in 2023 to 33,000 crore rupees in 2024. At the same time, the government's expenditure on water supply, sanitation and housing fell by around 3,000 crore rupees. CAG says that this reflects a major push towards welfare-oriented transfers rather than capital formation in the state. But at the end, such alleged corruption raises questions over the BJP's na khaunga na khaane doonga slogan. While scams became one of the biggest attacks of the BJP to bring down the UPA government, alleged scams under the Safran government often get buried in such gag reports. Tell us what you think about this in the comments and follow Peak TV for more such honest, crisp news every day.