Amid looming corruption charges and concerns over losing out on minority votes, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to start the state government’s ‘Duare Sarkar’ programme in every polling booth ahead of the panchayat elections in May. This initiative will begin on April 1.
In Bengal, the panchayat polls are being looked at as a “semi-final” before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The state government is under a lot of pressure, with corruption allegations in a recruitment scam case and a sense of unease over the loss of minority votes.
Earlier this month, the Trinamool Congress lost the Sagardighi bypoll to Congress candidate Bayron Biswas. Mamata’s party had won this assembly constituency since 2011; the bypoll was necessitated after state minister Subrata Saha’s death in December last year. What was alarming was the fall in the party’s vote share in a seat that has 63 percent Muslim votes.
The TMC government is largely facing these two challenges. Hence, the chief minister has decided to take the government’s flagship ‘Duare Sarkar’ (government services at your doorstep) programme to the booths. This programme started in 2020, where camps were set up at a panchayat level and people unable to avail benefits of government schemes, could bring their grievances here and get their work done.
The major aim of this programme was to reach people at their doorstep, so that they would not have to run from pillar to post trying to get important work done at a government level. These camps were previously held at a panchayat level and the TMC managed to reap massive benefits from it in the 2021 assembly elections. Now, before the panchayat elections, the CM has decided to take it to every booth.
Since its launch in 2020, the state government has held more than 3.71 lakh community-level outreach camps and over 6.77 crore services have been delivered to beneficiaries across Bengal. ‘Duare Sarkar’ has been made part of the administrative calendar for the state government from the 2021-2022 fiscal.
“Now, the state government has decided that, for the benefit of the people and in public interest, the sixth edition of ‘Duare Sarkar’ and ‘Paray Samadhan’ will be held across booths,” a senior officer from the administration said.
Party sources said there were approximately 77,000 booths in West Bengal, and that the government was planning this programme for 20 days so as to reach every booth.
The state government has various social welfare schemes – Swasthya Sathi, Kanyashree Prakalpa (to improve status and well being of girls, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds), Rupashree Prakalpa (financial aid to families who face difficulties in arranging weddings for their daughters), Lakshmir Bhandar (financial support for female head of the family) among others.
Sources said if the Duare Sarkar programme reached every booth, then people who require benefits from such government schemes will get help and the government’s image will improve.
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