Annapurna Yojana aid has been cleared for 4.5 lakh women in Kolkata, with each eligible beneficiary set to receive Rs 3,000 a month, according to a government official. The number of approved applications follows the submission of 5.7 lakh applications in the city, while further clearances are expected after the verification process is completed.
The field verification of all applicants in Kolkata has been completed, and officials said the remaining eligible beneficiaries were likely to be cleared within a couple of weeks. The process has also resulted in applications being rejected or returned for correction, reflecting the scrutiny being applied before payments are released.
More than 35,000 applications in Kolkata have so far been rejected, a Kolkata Municipal Corporation official said. Around 9,000 applications were returned to applicants because corrections or proper entries were required. The official said field teams found that some applicants did not meet the eligibility criteria during verification.
Under the scheme, women must be between 25 and 60 years old. Applicants with a personal monthly income above Rs 10,000 or a total annual family income exceeding Rs 12 lakh are not eligible. Permanent and retired government employees are also excluded from the programme.
The Annapurna Yojana replaced Lakshmir Bhandar, the earlier welfare programme for women run by the Trinamool Congress government. Lakshmir Bhandar had more than 7 lakh beneficiaries in Kolkata and provided monthly assistance of Rs 1,500. The new programme doubles the monthly payment for eligible recipients, according to the information provided by officials.
An official said applications were initially accepted only in physical form before online applications were opened. Most applications in Kolkata have now been submitted online. The shift has created a two-stage administrative process involving application submission followed by field-level verification of eligibility and personal details.
Across West Bengal, about 1.5 crore women are currently receiving the monthly assistance under Annapurna Yojana, an official said. The Kolkata figures indicate that the city alone accounts for a significant number of applications, while the difference between applications received and approvals shows that the final beneficiary count remains subject to eligibility checks.
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari attended an Annapurna Divas programme at Boimela Prangan in Salt Lake, where several thousand beneficiaries were present. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the gathering through video conference. During his address, Modi said the state government would ensure that no eligible woman was left out of the programme and said the assistance was being transferred directly into bank accounts without intermediaries.
Officials said the remaining eligible applicants in Kolkata were expected to receive clearance within the next couple of weeks. The immediate administrative task is to complete those approvals and process payments for beneficiaries whose applications have passed verification.
