One protester, Chandana Sarkar, said she had applied twice, with one application rejected and the other showing ‘under enquiry’. “Sometimes, I am told that my application has been rejected because my house has more than three rooms. But my house has only three rooms. We have been repeatedly harassed,” she said.
Another woman questioned why eligible applicants were being excluded when the rules appeared to have changed after applications were submitted. Protesters also claimed that owning concrete houses or discrepancies in application details were subsequently being used as grounds for rejection.
The minister assured protesters that eligible beneficiaries would not be deprived and that administrative problems would be examined.
The anger was equally visible in Kharagpur, where women blocked the road outside the municipality before continuing their protest inside the building and surrounding the chairperson’s office. Municipality chairperson Kalyani Ghosh said, “I will forward the women’s applications to the District Magistrate and make a request to him. We, too, want the women to receive the Annapurna Yojana funds.”
In Panchla and Udaynarayanpur in Howrah, women also blocked roads, alleging that their Rs 3,000 payments had not arrived despite submission of the required documents. In Udaynarayanpur, many applications were reportedly showing an ‘under process’ status. The administration said some cases involved DBT linkage problems or discrepancies in the information submitted.
The situation became still more tense in Hariharpara, Murshidabad, where women protesting outside the block office allegedly clashed with female civic volunteers. Police arrived and cleared the premises. Police sources said five people, including four women, were detained.
