Centre Begins Direct Cash Transfer For 20.36 Crore Woman Jan Dhan Accounts, Credits First Installment For 4 Cr Women

The Centre credited the first installment of ₹500 to over four crore Jan Dhan accounts of poor women on Friday as part of a relief package in view of the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

About 20.39 crore Woman Jan Dhan account holders will get ₹500 per month for next 3 months through direct transfer. This was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of ₹1.7 lakh crore Gareeb Kalyan relief package to mitigate the hardships of the poor due to the coronavirus lockdown.

The amount is being released by the Ministry and will be credited to more than 20.39 crore Jan Dhan accounts of women by April 9, officials said.

The government has ordered banks to ensure that the dormant accounts were reactivated to ensure that no beneficiary was left out.

The mega direct cash transfer exercise, which will see deposits based on the last digit of the account number, saw several thousand account holders visit their bank branches and nearest ATMs, although business correspondents have been pressed into service to ensure door-step delivery of benefits. All accounts are to get the funds by April 9.

Under the relief package, the government had also announced that women in 8.3 crore BPL families covered under Ujwala scheme will get free cylinders for 3 months.

The transfers for purchase of three free cooking gas cylinders for April has already commenced . State-run fuel retailers will transfer funds by the fourth of May and June as advance so that beneficiaries can buy LPG cylinders.

The Ujjwala consumers will have the option of getting three regular refills of 14.2kg or up to eight cylinders of 5kg, commonly known as ‘Chhotua’.