Hooghly, 02 October (H.S.): Tension prevailed at a Seva Setu camp organised at Polba BDO office on Friday after some local residents, reportedly upset over not receiving benefits under the Annapurna Bhandar scheme, allegedly vandalised parts of the camp.

The Seva Setu camps are being organised across West Bengal from October 2 to October 4 to provide various citizen services. A camp was also organised at Sugandha Gram Panchayat under the Polba-Dadpur block, where a large number of people gathered from the morning to avail themselves of different government services.

While some residents were waiting to apply for or receive benefits under Annapurna Bhandar, others were in queues for old-age pensions and widow pensions.

The situation at Polba BDO office, however, turned tense after some residents allegedly resorted to vandalism over not receiving Annapurna Bhandar benefits.

Local BJP workers claimed that some people became agitated and damaged property at the camp. They said efforts were made to pacify the crowd by informing them that applicants whose cases are currently under process would receive the benefits after completion of the required procedures.

Anupama Das, an applicant for Annapurna Bhandar benefits, said she had submitted an offline application in June and completed the online process in July. She also claimed to have cooperated with the authorities during the verification process, but said she had not received the benefit amount so far.

Das questioned the alleged disparity in the distribution of the scheme's benefits. She said that even if the full amount of Rs 3,000 was not provided, eligible beneficiaries should at least receive Rs 1,500. She further alleged that some families in the locality who own air-conditioners and four-wheelers were receiving the benefit, while her family, where members work as daily-wage labourers, had not received it.

She questioned why such an alleged disparity existed in the distribution of the scheme's benefits.

The situation was later brought under control, and the Seva Setu camp resumed functioning with people returning to the venue to avail themselves of the available services.

Till the time of filing this report, an official response from the administration regarding the alleged vandalism and the claims over Annapurna Bhandar beneficiary selection was not available.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey