SHILLONG: The Committee on Women Empowerment has asked the Social Welfare department in Meghalaya to ensure that the amount meant the Chief Minister’s Social Assistance scheme is distributed to the beneficiaries at the earliest
Talking to media persons here on Monday, chairperson of the committee, Ampareen Lyngdoh said that the department had told the Committee that the amount would be cleared shortly and committee has asked the department to speed up the entire exercise
The Committee also suggested to the department to have an SMS alert system so that beneficiaries can be alerted as and when money is disbursed to them, adding similar directive will also be issued to the IT cell of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly so that each MLA of the state is informed about scheme when it is disbursed to the beneficiaries
It may be mentioned that there are approximately 53000 beneficiaries of the scheme
Asking the department to ensure that two women hostels in the state is made functional at the earliest, the Committee also asked the department to see that shelter homes are opened for women in Jowai and Tura
Lyngdoh said that the department should make one stop crisis centre fully functional even as she expressed concern over incidents of rapes and violence against women and children.
The Committee has also asked the department to utilise schemes which are meant for rehabilitation of victims of trafficking.