GUWAHATI: The Assam Congress has accused the state government in Assam of “deliberately excluding Congress workers and sympathisers and persons who do not belong to the BJP” from the beneficiary lists prepared for the economically disadvantaged sections under an economic package amid the lock down to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Assam Cabinet had on March 30 announced distribution of economic benefits to the people such as free distribution of rice, sold at Re 1 per kg earlier, to the ration cardholders, and one-time financial assistance of Rs 1000 to the poor people without ration cards.
Alleging that the state government has been “inhuman and partisan” in regard to selection of beneficiaries for providing economic packages, the Opposition party shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to ensure that the benefits of the schemes reach the needy and deserving people in a transparent manner.
“It is not understood why the lists are being prepared when the government has a clear policy of direct transfer of cash to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries,” Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Ripun Bora wrote in the letter to the PM, adding, that such a move was nothing but an act of “political vendetta and social injustice.”
“This has created panic and strong resentment across the state. In some places, some unscrupulous BJP workers demanded money from the poor people for inclusion of their names in the beneficiary list,” Bora alleged.
“Therefore, I urge you to intervene into this matter and direct the state government to desist from preparing beneficiary lists for different schemes by discriminating and depriving the poor and the needy people on political consideration. We demand that the benefits of the schemes must reach all the needy and deserving people and it should be distributed in the most transparent way,” he wrote.