Lakshmir Bhandar: Speed up listing of beneficiaries, says state

KOLKATA: The state government has asked all District Magistrates (DM) to speed up the process of sending the beneficiary list of Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, through which government has promised to provide Rs 1,000 per month to women heads of SC and ST families and Rs 500 per month to women of general category.

Senior officials of the state government said after conducting an inquiry of the beneficiary list, the scheme would be launched. A video conference has already been conducted with all the DM's of the respective district to speed up the process of sending the beneficiary list.

A senior official of the state government said: "The work of the scheme has already started. We are coordinating with the districts so that they can send the beneficiary list."

According to the officials, around 1.6 crore women will directly get the benefit of the scheme.

The district administration has also been asked to prepare pamphlets about the scheme and paste it in every corner of the streets. Even street corner shows have to be arranged to make people aware of the scheme. Partha Chatterjee, state Industry minister, said "The scheme will be officially launched by the Chief Minister. The beneficiary list needs to be scrutinised. The family incomes of the beneficiaries need to be verified." The state government would incur a cost of about Rs 11,000 crore annually to fund the scheme.