Kolkata: At a time when BJP leader Babul Supriyo took to social media and slammed the ruling Trinamool Congress for ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme and called it a ‘poll gimmick of the TMC’, an official from the West Bengal Finance Department stated that the state government had already chalked out the details and have prepared a database and stated that the scheme will be launched soon.
Around 1.6 crore beneficiaries would be part of a West Bengal government scheme aimed at providing financial assistance to women heads of families, the senior official said on Saturday.
“We are trying to launch or implement the scheme by July 1. We have made a database of 6 crore beneficiaries and also the state government will incur a cost of rupees 11,000 crore annually to fund the scheme. This scheme was there in the TMCs manifesto and will be launched,” claimed the official also adding that the West Bengal Finance department is trying to slash costs from other departments to implement the scheme.
The official also mentioned that the state government is also taking loans from other sources to implement the scheme at the earliest and that the TMC government is trying to introduce ‘eligibility criteria’ for women to avail the scheme.
Notably, during the poll campaign the TMC Supremo had said that if she is voted back to power she will introduce the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme to make the women of the state more powerful. Under this scheme Mamata had promised to give Rs 500 to the general class and Rs 1000 to the SC/ST and OBCs.
