After receiving several complaints about the inadequate implementation of ‘Mission Vatsalya’, the State Commission for Women has written to all divisional commissioners in Maharashtra.
On August 25, to provide 25 services under one roof especially for rural districts, the women and child development department had announced the scheme for Covid widows. The government instructed the formation of a taluka-level committee of 13 members for the implementation of the scheme, which included education officers, representatives of NGOs, tehsildar, senior inspector of police and officers from panchayat Samiti.
Every week, a meeting is supposed to be held. However, only 198 have formed the committee out of the 356 blocks. Also, officials are not attending these meetings. After receiving several complaints, to set up the committees in each taluka at the earliest, Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Women, wrote to the divisional commissioners. Between the ages of 21 to 50 years, there are around 18,000 Covid widows in the state. The programme is yet to be implemented taluka-wise even after three months.
The letter sent on December 9 reads, “It has been observed that many districts don’t have the committees to assist the widows. Also, the current ones don’t hold meetings regularly. It is very disappointing that the work at the taluka level isn’t going as expected.”
“Continuing with our effort to strengthen the self-help groups, we are also working on a plan to provide employment to these women. We will soon submit the proposal to the state,” said Chakankar.
