Bengal polls: TMC government launches massive outreach drive

Last updated on February 21st, 2023 at 12:18 pm

Bengal polls: TMC govt has launched its biggest outreach campaign in West Bengal ahead of 2021 assembly polls

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal on Tuesday launched its massive outreach campaign in the run-up to the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

With the “Duare Sarkar” (government at doorsteps) outreach campaign, the TMC government is aiming to connect with people across various regions in the next two months. Under this campaign, people can avail the benefits of the 11 state-run welfare schemes. Furthermore, the administration will address their grievances related to these government programmes. 

As per media reports, the authorities will set up four camps in every village and municipal corporation across all 344 blocks in the state. In these camps, officials will be assisting people with a wide range of government programmes and services such as ration cards, health cards and MGNREGA job cards.

Under the slogan ‘jar jekhane darkar, asche apnar duare sarkar’ (the government will be at your doorsteps whenever you need it)’, the campaign will run for two months from December 1 to January 28 in four phases. 

More than 6800 officials have been deployed across 3400 help centres by the Mamata Banerjee government with the aim of raising awareness among people about state-run schemes and assist them in accessing the facilities. 

Meanwhile, opposition parties, including BJP and CPI(M) have hit out at the state government over the scheme, alleging that the TMC government is using public money for its election campaign. 

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh slammed the TMC government, questioning its potential to address people’s grievances. CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also hit out at the state government, alleging that the ‘Duare Sarkar’ initiative has been launched because the Panchayat Department has failed to help people with the schemes during its term. 

Responding to the criticism, Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim lashed out at the Left Front, alleging that they did not do anything for the people during their 34-year-long rule in the state of West Bengal. 

West Bengal is slated to go to polls in April-May 2021 to elect representatives to the 294-member state assembly. The 2021 West Bengal polls will witness a fierce face-off between Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and BJP. In the 2016 assembly elections, Trinamool Congress bagged 211 of the 294 seats, while BJP managed to win only 3. 

Ahead of the polls, the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress has joined hands with CPI(M)-led Left Front to fight BJP and TMC in the state. Earlier this month, the Congress-CPI(M) alliance chalked out an outreach plan to attract votes of the politically crucial minority community in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls in a bid to hamper AIMIM’s efforts to repeat its Bihar poll success. 

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