The BJP government in Bengal has made it clear that people deleted from the voter list, including those whose appeals are pending before the tribunals, will not “for the time being” receive the benefits of its Annapurna Bhandar scheme, which replaces the Lakshmir Bhandar.

“We will introduce the Annapurna Bhandar for women from June 1. Women will receive ₹3,000 a month. But those still… being verified by the tribunals will not be included in the list of beneficiaries for the time being,” Agnimitra Paul, minister for women & child welfare and social welfare, as well as municipal affairs, said on Monday.

“Those who have died and those who are not Indian citizens will not get the benefits, either.”

The announcement turns into reality one of the biggest fears of those who had their names deleted during the SIR, particularly the poor among them who depend heavily on government welfare.

Officials said the state had a list of 2.2 crore women who received benefits under Lakshmir Bhandar. This list will be matched with the list of the 63 lakh names deleted during the SIR as well as the 27 lakh excluded voters whose appeals are pending before the tribunals.

“If any of them (deleted voters) later gets back into the electoral rolls, she will be included in the list of beneficiaries,” a senior official said.

Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari had earlier in the day said that no existing welfare scheme would be discontinued.

“But non-existent beneficiaries, fake beneficiaries and those who are not Indians will not get the benefits,” he had added, speaking at Nabanna after his first cabinet meeting. Adhikari on Friday had said his government will function through “we” instead of “I”, and the cabinet will focus on “less talk, more work”.

The new government wants to weed out the irregularities it believes occurred in the distribution of welfare under the previous government, sources said.

“The chief minister made it clear during a meeting with senior bureaucrats that all the benefits will be transferred directly into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts in line with the central government’s model,” an official who attended the meeting said.

“He also made it clear that the list of beneficiaries would have to be scanned to ensure that no bogus beneficiary gets the benefits.”

At the meeting, Suvendu asked the bureaucrats to find out whether funds had been released in the name of any non-existent beneficiary under the housing scheme. On the previous government’s watch, 16 lakh people had received ₹1.2 lakh each under this scheme.

“The panchayat department will have to check if any of the beneficiaries had their names deleted during the SIR. If any such beneficiary is found, the government will take a call on how to proceed with this,” a source said.

Some officials asked whether it was right to stop benefits in a hurry to those deleted voters whose appeals are pending before the tribunals.

“The tribunals have already cleared about 1,600 people; so it can’t be said that all those excluded from the rolls are bogus voters or non-citizens,” an official said.