The Bengal government has decided to undertake a “comprehensive cleansing and verification” of the list of beneficiaries of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme before launching the Annapurna Yojana from June 1 in a bid to weed out ineligible names, as the administration apprehends the existence of several “ghost” recipients.

During a meeting convened by chief secretary Manoj Agarwal on May 19, it was decided that a series of measures would be initiated to ensure an error-free list of beneficiaries of Annapurna Yojana, under which women aged between 25 and 60 years would receive a monthly assistance of ₹3,000 each.

The BJP had promised the dole ahead of the Assembly elections in April.

As of now, 2.21 crore women across the state receive money under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, which was launched by the Trinamool Congress government in 2021. The women in the general category are paid ₹1,500 a month, while those in the SC/ST category receive ₹1,700 a month.

According to the plan, the government will launch a massive door-to-door survey to verify if all beneficiaries of Lakshmir Bhandar are genuine. A report on the survey has to be submitted by May 25.

The district authorities were asked to utilise the services of booth-level officers during the survey. The data of ASDD (absent, shifted, dead and duplicate) voters, which were compiled during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, would be considered during the verification of the beneficiaries.

“It has to be ensured that no ineligible beneficiary's name figures in the list. All those whose names figured in the ASDD list and were deleted from the electoral rolls should not be paid the grant. A total of 58 lakh names were deleted when the draft electoral rolls were published. Later, six lakh unmapped voters' names were also omitted when the final rolls were published. These names should not be included in the list of beneficiaries,” said an official.

The district magistrates were asked to treat favourably the voters who had appealed to tribunals to reinstate their names on the electoral roll until the appeals were disposed of. “If the voters' appeals are rejected by the tribunals later, their names will be deleted from the list of beneficiaries,” said a source.

Sources said the new government was suspicious of the beneficiary lists of all schemes prepared during the Trinamool Congress regime after it was found that ineligible and non-existent people received funds under a housing scheme.

“If you recall the irregularities in the selection of people affected by Cyclone Amphan for assistance, you will never rely on the list of beneficiaries prepared by the previous government. Moreover, the chief minister himself made it clear that the list of beneficiaries of the Awas Yojana, who received ₹1.20 lakh during the previous regime, was not flawless. This is why re-verification of the Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries is mandatory,” said a source.

Another official said that re-verification of beneficiaries of all government schemes was needed after the SIR spotted at least 64 lakh ASDD names on the electoral rolls.

“Any government would like to verify the beneficiaries in such a situation to ensure that funds are not misused,” said a source.

The sources said that the Suvendu Adhikari government was very cautious before launching the Annapurna Yojana, as the state would have to spend ₹663 crore a month with the existing number of beneficiaries.

“This is a huge amount considering the struggling state exchequer. At the same time, the state government does not want to keep the names of ineligible people on the list of beneficiaries to avoid legal trouble in the future,” said an official.