The Maharashtra government has expanded the scope of the district task force in the state to secure the rehabilitation and inheritance rights of women who lost their husbands due to COVID-19, by providing them proper guidance and legal assistance.
Authorities will also check if such widows are facing domestic violence, State Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur said in a statement on Thursday.
Since March last year, 16,627 women lost their husbands due to COVID-19. The district task force has a list of 16,516 out of them, according to the minister.
Thakur said her department had received several complaints about such widows being denied their property and inheritance rights.
"Hence, the scope of the district task force will be widened to authorise it to guide such women about their rights and financial matters, and provide legal aid," she said.
Under the "Mission Vatsalya" scheme, launched by the Maharashtra government some months back, a team of assigned government officials need to visit the households affected by COVID-19 and check if these widows are denied their property and inheritance rights, and if they are facing domestic violence, Thakur said.
The officials will submit a monthly report to the district task force headed by collector, who in-turn will monitor and review all such cases and ensure the women get justice, the minister said.
