Kolkata: The first day of Jan Kalyan Shivir, the new government's flagship outreach programme, witnessed thousands of people, predominantly senior citizens, queuing up at various camps across the city. The highest number of registrations were for welfare schemes such as Annapurna Yojana and Ayushman Bharat. Other services available included Aadhaar enrolment, opening of bank accounts, and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) applications.
The single-window camps, held in each of Kolkata Municipal Corporation's 16 boroughs covering 144 wards to facilitate access to government welfare schemes and public services, will operate from 10 am to 5 pm until Wednesday.
Armed with necessary documents, people braved the heat and started queuing up outside the venues almost an hour before the camps began operations on Monday. Police personnel were deployed to manage the crowds. Officials on special camp duty set up ward-specific designated desks where residents approached for assistance. Most of the people whom I attended to on the first day sought help to register for Ayushman Bharat and Annapurna Yojana schemes. There were also some applicants for Aadhaar enrolment, said an official at a camp at Star Community Hall, which catered to residents of wards 10-20 under borough II.
Hatibagan resident Priya Jaiswal was waiting with documents to register for Ayushman Bharat. I could not manage time to visit the local KMC office to find out how to register. As the outreach camp is happening in my area, I have come to make the registration. This camp is helpful for people like me, she said.
The camps were mostly housed in community halls run by the civic body, with some exceptions where they were organised in borough offices on Belvedere Road, Girish Park, a primary health centre on College Street, and in a club at Bansdroni. Udjapan Community Hall in Vivekananda Park under borough VIII also saw a huge turnout, with most seeking registration for Ayushman Bharat and Annapurna Yojana.
Mudiali resident Tapas Chatterjee said, I needed some clarity on the new government's Ayushman Bharat scheme. The officials enlisted my name for this scheme at the camp on Monday.
However, some services were unavailable, including schemes like Yuba Sathi, old-age pension, widow pension, and Manabik pension, which irked some citizens visiting the camps. Bhowanipore resident Somnath Mitra said, I could not get any work for old-age pension scheme done at the camp. But my Ayushman Bharat-related work was done. I shall have to visit the camp again for the old-age pension work.
Hedua resident Anup Chakraborty (79) said, I came to apply for the old-age pension scheme but the service was unavailable. They should have announced it earlier.
(With inputs from Indranil Das)
