By IANS,
Kolkata: All tribal people of West Bengal whose annual income is less than Rs.42,000 will get rice at Rs.2 per kg, against the earlier annual income cut-off limit of Rs.24,000, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Wednesday.
“We have decided to provide rice at Rs.2 per kg to all tribal people whose income is less than Rs.42,000 per annum. Earlier, the level was Rs.24,000 per annum,” Banerjee said at the state secretariat Writers’ Buildings here.
“We have decided to provide food to all section of poor people irrespective of their caste and community,” said Banerjee.
Initially, the programme will be launched in the Junglemahal area (forested Maoist affected areas of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts).
For non-tribals, the income eligibility is Rs.36,000 per annum, she said after a meeting with the Food and Supplies Minister Jyotipriya Mallick.
All poor people under this scheme will get 35 kg of rice per month at Rs.2 a kg.