KMC forms body to review criteria for BPL category

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has constituted a committee to review the BPL criteria in a bid to streamline the list based on parity between earning and the present market price.

"The socio-economic conditions of the people have changed a lot if you compare it to what it was a decade ago. Even people living in slums have witnessed a lot of changes in their living standards. Now it is hard to find a single slum house without electricity or a colour television set. So we feel that we need to come out with a new pro forma for BPL based on socio-economic parameters," a senior official of KMC said on Friday.

The six-member committee that has been constituted has Special Commissioner Tapas Chowdhury as co-chairman, Member Mayor-in-Council (Solid Waste Management) Debabrata Majumder, Member Mayor-in-Council (Bustee Development) Swapan Samaddar, Member Mayor-in-Council (BPL) Indrani Saha Banerjeea and a senior representative from State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) among others.

The committee will prepare an amended guideline for BPL in the city and will send it to SUDA for approval. The latter may send it to the state government for its final nod.

There have been a number of cases in the recent past when the civic body has found that people with good living standards have their names in the BPL category.

"We want the real beneficiaries to get the facilities of BPL. So we want to streamline the process," the official said.

It has been learnt that the last BPL criteria for Kolkata was made jointly by KMC and SUDA in 2014.

Below Poverty Line (BPL) is a benchmark used by the government of India to indicate economic disadvantage and to identify individuals and households in need of government assistance and aid.

It is determined using various parameters which vary from state to state and within states as well.