The financial aid scheme is given by the government of Goa every month – Dayanand Samajik Suraksha Yojana (DSSY) – will finally be expected to be cleared by the coming month of November.
The monthly scheme of the government was delayed for nearly four months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The same will be credited into accounts of all the beneficiaries by November.
The Social Welfare Development Director, Umesh Joshi, acknowledged that this monthly aid provided by the government could not be processed into beneficiary accounts due to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
“The full amount of the four months, June to September will be now credited in November,” he said.
The pandemic meant several stalled processes from the path of the government administration. These bills, under the DSSY, were delayed. Now, the Accounts department has begun work to clear the pending dues to all beneficiary account holders.
“After the amount is sanctioned, the money will be credited to the respective beneficiaries. The full process is likely to be completed by November,” Umesh Joshi said.
The state has many beneficiaries for the DSSY scheme, and most of them are solely dependent on this scheme for their daily needs. Severe hardships were faced by many due to the delay on the path of the government to release the money to their accounts.
The beneficiaries include widowed women, senior citizens, persons with disabilities. The DSSY also extends to people affected with HIV-AIDS. In Goa currently, there are over one lakh beneficiaries in the state for this scheme. A monthly sum of Rs 2000 is provided under the scheme for the account holders.
“It’s good that the DSSY is finally being cleared. Many, including myself, were awaiting this money. A lot of problems were faced financially, and as such, we’ve had to depend on others to meet our monetary necessities during these months,” said one senior citizen.
Earlier, with no dues paid for three months, rumors began making rounds that the government was planning to discontinue to the DSSY scheme. However, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, on the occasion of Senior Citizens Day earlier this month, had assured that the pending dues would be released soon. He had also said that it was unfortunate that the dues were delayed.
