With its sights set on the 2021 assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress-led government in West Bengal is launching one of its biggest outreach campaigns to connect with people over the next two months, starting Tuesday.
“The Duare Sarkar scheme will highlight about a dozen government programs and address the grievances of the excluded,” said a senior state government official.
Between December 1 and January 28, at least four camps would be established in each village and civic body in the state’s 344 blocks. In these camps, officials would assist people with various government facilities, such as MGNREGA job cards, health cards, caste certificates, and ration cards.
The Mamata Banerjee administration has already directed the district administration to focus on the Bangla Sahayata Kendra, a chain of grassroots-level centers for free information on various government schemes.
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“The state government has deployed more than 6,800 people to 3,400 of these centers to provide information to people about government projects and facilities and help them access them,” said a senior official.
People can get information on about 240 public services from about 38 departments of these centers, free of charge.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has criticized the state government for the Duare Sarkar scheme, asking it to clarify whether it is a government program or a TMC outreach program before the elections.
The ruling TMC is likely to face a stiff challenge from the BJP, which won 40% of the vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and won 18 of the 42 seats in the state.
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