Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday made an unprecedented announcement to change a proposal of the interim (vote on account) budget presented on the floor of the Assembly on February 5 and advance the date of beginning of the payment under a “unemployment allowance” scheme. She preponed the date for beginning the unemployment allowance payment from August 15 to April.
On February 5, while reading out the interim budget proposals, West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (independent charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya announced a new project christened ‘Banglaar Yava Sathi’, an unemployment allowance scheme for youths in the age bracket of 21 and 40, who had passed secondary examination.
On that day, Chandrima Bhattacharya also announced that the beneficiaries under the scheme will be entitled to a monthly payment of Rs 1,500 and also said that the project will be launched from August 15 this year, provided Trinamool Congress returns to power after the Assembly elections.
However, in a hurriedly convened press conference on Tuesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the advancement of the date of the beginning of the payment under the scheme and said that the dole under ‘Banglaar Yava Sathi’ will start from April this year and not after August 15, as was announced earlier in the interim budget proposals.
She said that this payment will be for a period of five years for each beneficiary, and after five years, if any beneficiary remains unemployed, there would be a review on case-to-case basis on whether payment will be continued for such beneficiaries.
The Chief Minister also said that camps would be organised throughout February in all the 294 Assembly constituencies in the state for applications from those willing to avail themselves of the scheme.
“A detailed advertisement will be published to make people aware of the dates of the camps for receiving the applications. After reviewing the applications, the payments under the scheme would start with effect from April 1,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
(IANS)
