The Tamil Nadu state government passed an order dated January 2, 2024, sanctioning 109 new officers for successfully implementing the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam scheme under which eligible women are provided with a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000.
The government has identified 1.06 crores beneficiaries, and received 11.85 lakhs of applications. Women above the age of 21 with an annual family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh, family land holding not exceeding 5 acres (wetland) and 10 acres (dryland), and annual household electricity consumption below 3,600 units are eligible for availing the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam scheme.
As the implementation of the scheme requires an enormous workforce, additional staff are being sanctioned, the order read.
As per the Government Order, 94 Head Assistants/ Deputy Tahsildars posted in Sub Collector/ Revenue Divisional Officers, 8 Taluk level Tahsildars and 7 Deputy Tahsildars from Taluk offices constitute the newly sanctioned workforce.
The 94 Head Assistants/ Deputy Tahsildars sanctioned from all the districts will be periodically updating eligible cases, deleting ineligible cases, verifying new applications, and handling complaints at their respective divisional levels. Meanwhile, the 8 Taluk level Tahsildars have been posted at newly formed Taluks, and the 7 Deputy Tahsildars will be carrying out work at Taluks where the posts of Zonal Deputy Tahsildars are non-existent.
Read: TN govt warns banks against deducting Magalir Urimai amount from beneficiary accounts
The government has allocated Rs 11.25 crores for the current year (December 2023- March 2024) and next year (2024- 2025) towards the smooth implementation of the scheme.
It may be noted that there was a request to approve 323 new posts for implementing the scheme of which only 109 have been approved.
SK Prabakar, the Additional Chief Secretary and the Commissioner of Revenue Administration, had requested 32 Deputy Tahsildars to be sanctioned from hill areas considering the issue of inaccessibility, 91 Deputy Tahsildars to be sanctioned in Taluks with higher number of beneficiaries, and 38 Head Assistants/ Deputy Tahsildars from the Collectorates of 38 districts for running an effective redressal mechanism. However, these posts were not sanctioned by the government.