The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to deploy 44 senior bureaucrats, many of them secretaries in various departments, in the districts as observers for the sixth edition of Duare Sarkar camps scheduled to start on April 1 and continue for 20 days.
A source in the state government said this edition of Duare Sarkar, probably the last before rural polls this summer, seeks to reach out to the maximum number of beneficiaries even in the most remote pockets.
Camps will be set up to receive applications for welfare schemes from April 1 to 10. District administrative officials will deliver services to eligible beneficiaries over the next 10 days.
“Senior IAS officers will move to the district to ensure proper coordination with government departments and help district officials overcome challenges and bridge gaps to make the task successful,” a senior IAS officer in Calcutta said.
In an order issued on March 23, chief secretary H.K Dwivedi tasked 44 senior IAS officers with their areas of responsibility in a specific district or subdivision.
A senior bureaucrat has been assigned as an observer for small districts like Jhargram, Alipurduar and Darjeeling. In the case of big districts like Cooch Behar, North and South 24-Parganas, one senior official has been assigned to one subdivision each.
In its earlier editions, Duare Sarkar camps were usually held at the gram panchayat level. This time, the state has directed district magistrates to conduct at least one camp in each of the 80,000- odd booths across Bengal.
“The government’s goal is to ensure that no one is left out of government benefits they deserve. So, this time it has set a target to organise at least one lakh camps to cover all booths. The overdrive is aimed to touch every person before the panchayat polls,” said a source in Nabanna.
Several district officials, however, pointed out that organising Duare Sarkar camps at each booth would be tough owing to the dearth of employees.
“Usually we need around 30 employees to organise a camp to deliver services related to over 30 schemes. It won’t be possible for us to manage such a huge arrangement at every booth. So we plan to send two or three persons to collect applications from booths that will stay uncovered,” said an official in Purulia.
Some officials, however, claimed the government decided to send observers to districts because there were reports that during the earlier Duare Sarkar editions, people from remote areas were left out.
Observers from Calcutta will go to assigned districts and meet officials to fix the areas of focus and plug gaps, if any, between the district and the government departments.
The state government’s focus in this Duare Sarkar edition is on the West Bengal Bhabishyat Credit Card Scheme, a credit-based scheme to support unemployed youths to set up micro and small enterprises. Individuals aged between 18 and 45 years will be helped by the government to get loans up to Rs 5 lakh for an enterprise. The loan will include 10 per cent government subsidy not exceeding Rs 25,000.
This apart, people will get benefits from 31 other schemes.
