4.63 lakh visit Duare Sarkar camps on 1st day of 3rd phase

Kolkata: Around 4.63 lakh people turned out at Duare Sarkar camps on the first day of the third phase of the country's biggest outreach drive on Saturday. In Kolkata, as many as 18 camps were organised on Saturday. As many as 10 camps will be held on Sunday at different wards.

In the third phase, each of the beneficiaries are getting a letter from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Explaining the reason behind launching Duare Sarkar in 4 phases from December 1 to January 25 in her letters to beneficiaries, Banerjee expressed her happiness for getting the opportunity to enrol them under any of the 12 state-run schemes through the camps, which are held at every Gram Panchayat and municipal wards.

"I am hopeful of getting the opportunity to continue providing the benefits under the scheme (in which one has got enrolled) for an overall development in the coming days," Banerjee further stated in the letter after extending them the greeting for the New Year.

As many as 466 camps were set up across the state on the first day of the third phase. A large number of people turned out at the camps to get Swasthya Sathi cards. The state government is bearing the entire cost of the premium for the health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh per year for each family. The concerned insurance company is providing the cost of treatment on behalf of the beneficiary.

The first two phases of Duare Sarkar had witnessed a footfall of around 1.5 crore people. Most of the applications have been approved and now they have started getting the benefits. Many were also helped by providing the benefits within a few hours of submitting applications.

Besides the third phase of Duare Sarkar camps, its subsidiary programme — Paray Samadhan — has also been launched on Saturday to execute elementary works at the grassroot level.

To ensure smooth implementation of the Paray Samadhan programme, the state government has given relaxations in delegation of Financial Power Rules (DFPR) and Tender Rules so that execution of works can be undertaken smoothly and in minimum time.

The DFPR of the 'non-works departments' will be Rs 1 crore in relaxation. It is not applicable for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department as the same is already Rs 3 crore for the department. Again, the 'notice period' for execution of works has been brought down from 21 to 14 days for a particular section of work. The works requiring 14 days time can be undertaken in just seven days.