The Maharashtra government had sanctioned Rs 36 crore for rehabilitation purpose under the scheme last year. The sanctioned limit, when the scheme was launched in September 2013, was Rs 8 crore.
Within three years of its launch, the Manodhariya scheme – meant to rehabilitate rape and abuse victims – may undergo a review, thanks to complaints of wrongdoings and alleged bogus claims.
The Maharashtra government had sanctioned Rs 36 crore for rehabilitation purpose under the scheme last year. The sanctioned limit, when the scheme was launched in September 2013, was Rs 8 crore.
Smelling something fishy, and flooded with complaints, the women and child development department has written to every district administration to verify the complaints and submit a detailed report on the number and nature of the complaints.
The alarm was also raised by the finance department, which was shocked to receive regular demands for rehab compensation. In a latest, a Sangli-based government pleader has apprised the department on how both the victim and the accused connive with each other to file a case and take the compensation.
“If the complaints, on verification, turn out to be significant, we will call for a review of the scheme,” said a senior officer who did not wish to be named.
Since the inception of the scheme, the government has received 4,809 cases for disbursal of compensation, of which 3,714 cases received a sanction after verification.
The scheme was launched in 2013 by the then Congress-NCP government.
As per the scheme, an amount ranging between Rs 2-3 lakh is released to a victim depending upon the severity of the case, with separate funds of up to Rs 50,000 for injuries and incidental costs such as travel and medical expenditure. Of the sanctioned money, 25% is released immediately on registration of an FIR whereas the remaining 75% is put in a fixed deposit with a lock in period of three years.
Meanwhile, the Bombay high court, in February last year, had pulled up the state government over its halfhearted implementation of the scheme. The court also directed it to spell out its efforts towards publicising the scheme among the survivors, as well as the police and investigating authorities.
The court’s order had come on a petition filed by Aarti Thakur, an IT professional and an acid attack survivor. Thakur had sought a compensation of Rs4 lakh towards her medical expenses and corrective plastic surgery.
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