BHUBANESWAR: Mamata, the maternity benefit scheme for pregnant women launched by the State Government, has been well responded with registration of 1.93 lakh beneficiaries within a month. The registration of pregnant women started on September 5 and by the end of last month Ganjam district registered the highest number of 15,867 expecting women followed by 10,848 in Balasore, 10,664 in Mayurbhanj and 10,426 in Keonjhar district.A conditional cash transfer scheme, pregnant women above 19 years of age will be provided financial assistance of ` 5,000 for first 2 live births to enable them get proper nutrition during pre and postnatal periods. The financial assistance will be given in four instalments subject to the mothers and mothers-to-be undertake regular health check-ups and vaccination.Employees of the Central and State governments and public sector units will not be covered under the scheme which aims at reducing maternal and infant mortality by way of improving health and nutritional status of pregnant mothers and their infants.The first instalment of Rs 1,500 will be provided within 6 to 9 months of pregnancy and the second instalment of Rs 1,500 when the child becomes 3 months old. The third instalment of Rs 1,000 will be given when the child becomes 6 months old and the last instalment of Rs 1,000 in between 9 and 12 months of the child.The Women and Child Welfare Department has placed a demand for Rs 120 crore for the current financial year. The Government sanctioned Rs 55 crore for the programme to meet the expenditure for initial three months.The balance fund will be made through supplementary budgetary provisions.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to inaugurate the scheme shortly. Money will be transferred to the bank account of individual beneficiary if she fulfills the specified criteria like getting her pregnancy registered in Anganwadi, taking health check-up, getting herself immunised, registering the name of the newborn child, immunizing the child regularly, breast feeding the child, taking regular weight of the child and mother attending the counselling centres at AWC on village health and nutrition day.According to a review meeting by Chief Secretary BK Patnaik, 1.15 lakh expectant mothers have already opened their accounts in banks. The Chief Secretary advised the department to strengthen the monitoring and supervision mechanism at field level to ensure timely delivery of services and to check any possible vested interests. He further advised the department to take up online registration of pregnant women.
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