People stand in a queue to enroll in BJP Govt Annapurna Bhandar scheme, in Siliguri. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Trinamool Congress criticised the Bharatiya Janta Party government’s Annapurna Bhandar scheme in West Bengal, on account of the tedious form-filling process. The Congress State president also wrote to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to make the process simpler.
“Assurances before the vote; only memories after the votes,” TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee wrote on his social media on Friday (May 29, 2026), taking a dig at the form. He also shared an alleged mock-up form that was shared by the BJP before the elections which was only half a page, and also shared photos of the 11-page form recently published by the new government.
The Annapurna Bhandar is a social security scheme where women of the State will get a direct cash transfer of ₹3,000 to their banks every month. The previous TMC government had launched the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in 2021 and reached almost 2.4 crore women across the State. The TMC government paid ₹1,500 per woman, and the BJP made a poll promise to double the dolls once they came to power.
The Annapurna Bhandar scheme form asks for details like Citizenship (Amendment) Act status, whether names were deleted under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, social status of people, vaccination status of children, number of literate and illiterate family members, bank account details of family members, status of health insurance, total land holding of family, etc.
Taking a dig at this, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh asked why social welfare schemes are becoming conditional under the BJP. “So the new @BJP4Bengal Minister’s logic is simple: If you didn’t take the vaccine provided by the Government of India, don’t bother seeking benefits from Government of India welfare schemes!!!” he wrote on his social media.
Mr Ghosh also raised questions about why women have to give details of their whole family when the cash transfer benefit is solely for women.
Meanwhile, netizens on social media have been making memes and sarcastic videos on the 11-page long form issued by the State government for the Annapurna Bhandar scheme.
“One or two pages is still okay. How will we fill up such a huge form? We are not that educated? This money was supposed to be mine, why do I need to add my husband’s account details?” a woman asked.
The scheme is set to be rolled out from June 1, but the uncertainty over the form-filling process has left many in doubt.
“We can provide Aadhaar and voter cards, but the number of documents they are asking is not possible for illiterate people like us to provide. We have decided to just not fill out the form,” another woman who registered under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme said.
Meanwhile, Congress State president Subhankar Sarkar wrote to the West Bengal CM stating that the long form filling up process was causing trouble among people. “I urge you to take immediate and necessary steps from the State government’s side to simplify the form issued for Annapurna Bhandar,” Mr Sarkar’s letter said on Friday (May 29, 2026).
Published – May 30, 2026 09:56 am IST
