Kolkata: At least another 23 lakh women in the state were brought under the ambit of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme with the end of the 2021- 22 financial year.
The amount will be credited to the bank accounts of the recipients before May 5, which will mark the completion of a year of the third tenure of the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal.
The social security scheme Lakshmir Bhandar was introduced just four months after the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came to power after a landslide victory in the Assembly elections. The applications were received through Duare Sarkar (Government at Doorstep) camps across the state. Over 1.53 crore women received financial assistance just before the Durga Puja in October. The amount that was credited was Rs 1000 for the SC/ ST, OBC while for the general caste, the amount was Rs 500.
The allocation under Lakshmir Bhandar has been made in the state budget tabled last month and an extra Rs 240 crore per month is being spent from the government exchequer because of this.
A senior official of the state government said that the maximum response that was received in the Duare Sarkar camps held last year was for the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. In the camp held last month over 22.11 lakh applications were received for Lakshmir Bhandar. The majority of the applications have been approved out of which over 2.76 lakh are SC, ST, OBC etc and the rest are from general caste.
Their dues will be credited to their respective bank accounts by this month itself. According to sources in the Social Welfare department that executes this project, the highest number of beneficiaries are from North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, North Dinajpur and Hooghly.
Over 1.75 crore women will reap the benefits of the scheme from this month. A total of Rs 13080 crore will be spent under this scheme in this fiscal.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while speaking on the state budget reiterated that the ongoing social security schemes like Kanyashree, Rupashree, Lakshmir Bhandar, widow pension etc will continue.