The newly elected West Bengal government has decided to utilize the voters' list created during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted ahead of the assembly polls to identify and remove names of deceased or relocated individuals who continue to feature as beneficiaries of various state government schemes. Directions to this effect have been issued to District Magistrates (DMs), who have been instructed to provide details of individuals that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) could not reach during the SIR process.
Implementation Details
DMs are required to submit assembly constituency-wise lists, including the names of municipalities and blocks where voters were found to be untraceable. An official explained that during door-to-door visits, BLOs identified absentee voters, and those names will be deleted to ensure they do not appear in beneficiary databases. Authorities have also been asked to verify beneficiary documents to ensure that non-citizens are removed from the database of schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar, and to investigate whether funds had been released earlier in the names of non-existent beneficiaries.
Chief Minister's Statement
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari stated on Monday that while the government would continue all existing welfare schemes, strict scrutiny will be enforced to remove deleted voters from beneficiary lists. This move aims to streamline welfare distribution and prevent misuse of funds.
