Ahead of Bengal polls, Mamata govt rolls out Rs 8,000-cr neighbourhood outreach scheme

Indian Express

3 days ago

TAPAN MONDOL, 31, seated on the front bench in a classroom of Bele-Durganagar High School, Joynagar, in South 24 Parganas, while attending a meeting as part of the TMC government's 'Amader Para, Amader Samadhan' (Our Neighbourhood, Our Solution) initiative, which rolled out from August 2 at the booth level, pointed out, 'We lack drinking water sources, forcing us to travel 2.5 km for water. So, we are proposing at least four tubewells for our Bele-Durganagar area.' The move comes ahead of the Assembly elections, which is less than a year away.
During the meeting, a government official on site pointed out, 'One tube well costs around Rs 2 lakh, and we only have Rs 10 lakh fund. Installing four tubewells would exceed our budget.'
However, backing Mondol's proposal, another villager, 67-year-old Prafulla Sardar, responded firmly, 'We will handle other issues such as streetlights and poor roads later. Drinking water comes first. So, prioritise the tubewells, then do whatever else you want to.'
After the 'success' of its 'Duare Sarkar' and 'Parai Samadhan' campaigns, the West Bengal government on Saturday launched a Rs 8,000-crore outreach programme aimed at resolving local issues such as setting up street lamps, repairing roads and ensuring water supply, across districts, at the level of 'paras' or neighbourhoods.
As part of the scheme, a locality (para) is constituted with three booths. On the opening day, each centre had three dedicated rooms where villagers could submit their local demands. These were compiled by a neutral person and handed over to the administration. The proposals would then be reviewed and decisions made on which projects to implement. The administration also arranged a help desk to take individual problems and applications.
Organised for Booth 181 of the Joynagar Assembly constituency, the voters of the three booths – 181, 182 and 183 – participated in the project camp.
Inaugurating the camp, Sumit Gupta, District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas, said, 'We have supplied the scheme names which will be allowed in this programme. People will put forth their demands in today's meeting. These will be scrutinised and selected projects will be implemented from November. On the first day, we organised 56 camps across the district.'
'In this scheme, one para will be constituted with three booths. But in remote places, we are making para with one or two booths also,' he added.
However, a controversy erupted when it surfaced that Bele-Durganagar High School had exams scheduled on Saturday, and the camps began before the exams were completed.
The school head master Arijit Sarkar claimed, 'We do not have problems and students also did not face any problems.'
Meanwhile, the DM said, 'I do not have any idea that examinations are going on. It is not desirable. We are investigating.'
Another camp was organised at Champahati Nilmani Kar Vidyalaya, under the Baruipur-East Assembly constituency, with participants belonging under booth number 24, 25 and 26.
Panchayat Development Officer of Baruipur, Sanjib Roy Chowdhury said, 'Many people are coming and expecting that they can submit their problems like OBC certificate, Lakshmir Bhandar application, widow pension like government schemes. We also arranged for them a help desk so that they can submit their demands also.'
A local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader, Manna Naskar, said, 'It is a new programme. But it will be useful for development as ground level general voters are participating in this programme.'
'More than 300 persons participated in the programme. They have given many proposals, mostly roads, drinking water and streetlights,' said another TMC leader and local panchayat pradhan Asit Baran Mondol.
Last month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who announced the initiative, claimed, 'First such initiative in INDIA where people can voice their opinions and mutually decide the issues they need to get it resolved in their booth using Rs 10 lakh.'
After its launch on Saturday, Banerjee posted on X, 'Amader Para Amader Samadhan' (APAS) is a unique flagship initiative aimed at institutionalizing participatory governance and re-imagining grassroots service delivery through people-engagement and empowerment. APAS camp is a platform where local people shall deliberate, identify and prioritize their local level infrastructure needs.'
'Rs 8,000+ crore is the outlay for APAS with Rs 10 lakh allocated per booth and 80,000+ polling booths being covered by 27,000+ camps. Today, on the first day of 'Amader Para, Amader Samadhan' (APAS) 632 camps are being held across the State. Duare Sarkar counters have also been set up in APAS Camps.I invite the people to visit their camps and participate in the discussions to make APAS a grand success. I also thank the concerned government officials and other stakeholders for their efforts in the smooth roll out of the campaign,' she added.