The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has directed the Land Revenue Commissioner to bring to the notice of the Union government that financial assistance under the National Family Benefit Scheme for bereaved households in case of death of primary breadwinner has been stalled since May 2014.
Fund crunch
Commission chairperson Antony Dominic said it was serious that the assistance to destitute women who had lost their husbands had come to a halt owing to inadequate funds from the Union government.
The commission was acting on a complaint from T. Leelamma, whose husband died in 2014.
It was following the death of her husband that she submitted an application for assistance on October 14, 2014.
The tahsildar informed the commission that the District Collector has issued an order sanctioning the assistance on January 26, 2016. However, there were no funds available. Only those who had submitted applications till May 2014 had been given assistance, the report said. If funds were sanctioned, assistance could be distributed as per priority, the report said.
