Lucknow: Living persons shown as dead to claim National Family Benefit Scheme money; probe on

21 women were falsely shown as widows to give them benefits of the National Family Benefit Scheme, under which financial assistance of 30 thousand rupees is given to a family on the death of the earning head.

In Lucknow, 21 women were shown as widows to claim money under the National Family Benefit Scheme. Under the scheme, Rs 30,000 is given to a family if the earning head dies. It was found that the husbands of the 21 women were either alive or had passed away a long time ago. These widows had never applied for any benefit.In Banthra and Chandrawal villages in Lucknow's Sarojini Nagar, 88 women were registered as beneficiaries of the National Family Benefit Scheme between 2019 and 2021. But on examination of their report, it was found that among them, 21 women of Banthra village were given the benefits in an erroneous manner. While most husbands were alive, eight women had lost their partners more than a decade ago and had never applied for any such benefit.