Ahead of the Goa Assembly Elections where the TMC is all set to make its debut this time, the party has come out with a scheme to woo the women voters. The Trinamool Congress today announced that it will implement a direct cash transfer scheme for women in Goa if voted to power next year.

The party has named the scheme as Griha Laxmi. TMC leader Mahua Moitra said that under the scheme, Rs 5,000 would be transferred to a woman of every household per month as guaranteed income support. This means a woman would get Rs 60,000 per year. Moitra said that the party would soon start distributing cards carrying unique identification numbers and it would become operational once the TMC forms a government in Goa.

The party said that the scheme would cost Rs 1,500-2,000 crore to the government, which is just 6 to 8 per cent of the State budget.

“The women from 3.5 lakh households in the state would be covered under the Griha Laxmi scheme as it will also do away with the maximum income ceiling, which is mandated in the current Griha Aadhar scheme of the BJP government in the state,” said Moitra.

Moitra claimed that the current scheme of the Goa BJP government provides only Rs 1,500 per month to women covering only 1.5 lakh households due to the income ceiling.

Moitra alleged that the actual implementation of the Griha Aadhar scheme of the BJP requires Rs 270 crore annually, but the Goa government has earmarked only Rs 140 crore annually for it due to which many people do not get the benefit.

The Aam Aadmi Party had also made a similar promise. During his recent visit to the state, AAP’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal had said if his party comes to power in Goa, then the existing remuneration of Rs 1,500 provided to women under the Griha Aadhar scheme would be increased to Rs 2,500, while other women aged 18 and above, who are not covered under the scheme, would be paid Rs 1,000 per month, reported PTI.

It may be recalled that the Congress party had also come out with a similar proposal in previous elections where the party had promised a monthly financial assistance of Rs 6,000 per month or Rs 72,000 per year under the Minimum Income Support Programme (MISP) or Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme.

The TMC will be contesting on all the 40 seats of the state. It had recently sealed an alliance with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) but the sharing of the seats are yet to be finalized.