KOLKATA: CM Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, in her first administrative meeting after the LS elections, rolled out her poll promises of a 4% DA hike for govt employees, effective April 1 instead of May, and a survey to identify the actual number of homeless people eligible for Awas Yojana benefits, which will now be paid by Bengal govt.
Banerjee, sources said, focused on ensuring timely delivery of poll promises and monitoring of ongoing projects. She emphasised the importance of cost curtailment and timely completion of projects, including the Ghatal Master Plan and various bridge works.
While the power and animal resources development departments came in for praise, the first for managing the power crisis during the extreme heat wave, the chief minister questioned several secretaries and some ministers for their “unsatisfactory” performance.
Banerjee, announcing the Awas survey, stressed the importance of providing dignified housing to the homeless. She said the state govt would bear the cost, with the first instalment expected by Dec 2024. The panchayat department will frame guidelines for the baseline survey to prevent corruption and ensure only eligible beneficiaries are included.
Despite the central govt’s announcement in Nov 2022 that 11.3 lakh eligible Awas beneficiaries had been identified and would receive the first instalment within a month, the funds never came. In response, Banerjee announced funding for homes for the poor, a move that Trinamool made a poll agenda saying that the BJP govt was depriving people of Bengal of their rights.
The finance department announced that state employees, those of aided institutions and parastatal bodies and pensioners would receive their enhanced DA effective from April 1 and not May. As a result, staff and pensioners will receive an additional sum with their June salary or pension.
Banerjee criticised officials for their inability to deliver as needed and urged police to be proactive in preventing the circulation of rumours or fake videos that could disturb law and order. She also directed senior officials to curb corruption. DGP Sanjay Mukherjee and Rajeev Kumar, who now heads the IT department, attended the meeting along with all senior officials, including DMs.
The CM instructed officials to resume development work, which had been stalled for over three months due to polls. Various projects like Lakshmir Bhandar, Yuvashree, Kanyashree, Swasthya Sathi, Student Credit Card and crop insurance for farmers were discussed.
Banerjee announced on social media that the Yogashree scheme, which provides free training to SC/ST students for admission to engineering and medical courses, will be expanded to include students from minority, OBC and general categories. The scheme has yielded impressive results, with trainees securing ranks in competitive exams such as JEE (Advanced), JEE (Mains), WBJEE and NEET.
“Let our boys and girls from weaker sections be engineers and doctors in larger numbers. We shall now include students of minority, OBC and general categories also in this scheme. Kudos to them!” Banerjee posted.
