Amidst ongoing farmers' agitation against the farm laws, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar requesting a transfer of funds under the central government's PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.
Under this scheme, the economically weaker farmers receive a direct benefit transfer of Rs 2,000 in three installments every year. The scheme, however, is yet to be implemented in West Bengal.
In a letter to Tomar, Banerjee emphasised that decision of the central government on implementation of the scheme in West Bengal and transferring the requisite fund to the state government for onward disbursement to the farmers through the state government machinery is "still awaited".
"The state government is already implementing a scheme of direct fund transfer to the farmers including the sharecroppers with a death benefit scheme... More than 73 lakh farmers are to be benefitted from the scheme," she said.
Urging the Centre to arrange to transfer the requisite fund to the state government for onward disbursement with full responsibility to the farmer-beneficiaries of the state through state government machinery, she said: "After disbursement, a list of beneficiaries will be sent to you to your Information. I do hope that a decision in the matter would be taken on very quick and communicated to us."
Banerjee further requested Tomar to "kindly recall" the letter written by her on September 9, 2020 regarding PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme in which, the TMC supremo had said that the scheme will be implemented in West Bengal "if the funds are routed through the state government".
The PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme was launched last year in February. It is Central scheme with 100 per cent funding from the central government. Under the scheme, income support of 6,000 per year in three equal installments is being provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of up to 2 hectares. State Government and UT administration will identify the farmer families which are eligible for support as per scheme guidelines.
The amount is directly transferred into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode.
( With inputs from ANI )
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