Fatehgarh Sahib/Chandigarh, January 1
Jaspreet Kaur is a happy woman. She finds some caring that appeared impossible only a month back when she became a proud mother of a baby girl. Today, about 1 pm, she received Rs 5,000 directly into her State Bank of Patiala account as part of the Central government’s Dhan Lakshmi scheme.

Ditto for Gauri. “My husband and I were tired of making several rounds of the district administrative complex at Fatehgarh Sahib. Toady, the cash was transferred to my savings account. We can now think of better healthcare for my daughter,” said Gauri.

In Chandigarh, too, the scene at UT Guest House was a little unusual. First it was disbelief and then it all happened in a few minutes. The scheme was launched by Union Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. And it brought instant joy for Kulbir Singh, a class XI student at Government Senior Secondary School, Sector 10. He received Rs 2,925 directly into his account around 3 pm on Tuesday under the Post-Matric Scholarship for Minorities. He scored 10 CGPA in his Matric exams. He had applied for the scholarship.

Out of the Rs2,925, Rs 2,200 is the scholarship fee and the rest is for books.

Fatehgarh Sahib is one of the 20 districts in the country selected for the Centre’s “game changer” direct cash transfer scheme. District administration officials say the scheme will be fully implemented by January 31. It would also cover pensioners, disabled persons and other beneficiaries.

Deputy Commissioner Yashvir Mahajan said that under the Dhan Lakshmi scheme, an mount of Rs 55 lakh has been distributed to 2,800 beneficiaries today alone. He said Rs 1.24 crore would be transferred to other beneficiaries in the next two days.

In Chandigarh, UT Advisor KK Sharma said: “In the first phase, an amount of Rs 46,35,421 was today directly transferred to the accounts of 1,390 beneficiaries, identified under different scholarship schemes of the UT Education Department. The scheme would be extended to other departments in the next phase”.

“The scheme will enhance efficiency and transparency and eliminate pilferage and falsification”, said Railway Minister Bansal. The Union Minister urged the administration to bring the PDS commodities, like LPG and kerosene under the scheme. The UT was short-listed as 80 per cent of its population of was enrolled under Aadhaar.