Money from the state government’s ‘Annapurna Bhandar’ initiative will begin transferring to women’s bank accounts starting June 1. The scheme, which was promised during the Assembly election campaign by PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is now being implemented by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. The first Cabinet meeting was recently held at the state secretariat, Nabanna, where the launch date of ‘Annapurna Bhandar’ was announced.
The government also declared that women will be able to travel on government buses without any fare from June 1. Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had pledged the ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ scheme for women before the 2021 state Assembly elections. Following her victory, the project commenced with an initial amount of Rs 500 per month per woman, which was later raised gradually. In the previous state government’s final budget, the monthly amount under Lakshmir Bhandar was increased to Rs 1,500 for general category women and Rs 1,700 for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women.
During the election campaign, the Bharatiya Janata Party utilized the same scheme introduced by Banerjee to win the elections, promising to provide Rs 3,000 per month to empower women. PM Modi and Amit Shah emphasized the Annapurna Bhandar scheme in their public speeches. The state government has now confirmed that women will indeed be able to travel on government buses free of charge from June 1. Beneficiaries of the previous Lakshmir Bhandar scheme will automatically receive Rs 3,000 per month under Annapurna Bhandar without the need for reapplication.
