Kolkata: The biggest outreach drive launched by the Bengal government, Duare Sarkar, has set up a new milestone on Friday with the visit of more than 3.26 crore people at the camps across the state.
It includes 1.64 lakh applicants of another landmark scheme of the Bengal government — Lakshmir Bhandar — under which women from the general and the SC/ST category will get Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 per month respectively.
Extending her gratitude for the immense success of the programme, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Extremely happy to share that more than 3 Crore people have visited the #DuareSarkar camps since 16th August. I congratulate all GoWB officials for making this initiative a huge success. I thank the people of Bengal for coming to the camps and availing all benefits!"
The second edition of the Duare Sarkar programme, to help people get benefits of more than 18 state-run schemes at their doorsteps, began on August 16.
In just three weeks, the number of visitors has crossed the 3-crore mark. According to a senior state government officer, this has become possible with the setting up of a total of 74,140 camps across the state. The total number of scheduled camps stands at 84,309 till September 15.
It needs special mention that the state government has taken the Duare Sarkar camps up to every booth level to avoid heavy gatherings as a large number of women turn up every day to apply for the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. Even beneficiaries of Kanyashree Prakalpa have come forward in different parts of the state to help visitors at the Duare Sarkar camps to fill up application forms and even help elderly people on several occasions to reach the respective counters dedicated for individual schemes.
Significantly, around 23.16 lakh and 56.41 lakh people have also visited the Duare Sarkar camps since its inception for Khadya Sathi and Swasthya Sathi schemes respectively.