West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday will be observed as ‘Annapurna Divas’ in the state every year, citing the implementation of the Annapurna Yojana for women. Speaking at a programme in Salt Lake, Adhikari said the scheme was among Modi’s “guarantees” and claimed that it had already been implemented for a large section of women in Bengal.
“Every year, September 17 will be celebrated as ‘Annapurna Divas’ because the Annapurna Yojana was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee. We have already implemented it for a large section of women,” Suvendu Adhikari said.
He also announced that a list of 50 lakh beneficiaries in West Bengal was being prepared under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. He said houses sanctioned under the scheme would be registered in the names of women. “PM Modi has announced the preparation of a list of 50 lakh beneficiaries in Bengal under PM Awaas Yojana. All new houses under the programme will be owned by women,” Adhikari said.
The programme was inaugurated by sports personalities including former table tennis player Poulami Ghatak, Indu Puri and former athlete Jyotirmoyee Sikdar. Suvendu Adhikari also highlighted measures concerning women's safety in the state, saying a commission headed by retired Justice Samapti Chatterjee had been constituted to inquire into alleged atrocities against women. “In the last four months, we have set up a commission headed by Justice Samapti Chatterjee (retired) to inquire into atrocities on women in the state,” he said.
He asserted that the BJP government was committed to ensuring that women in West Bengal were protected from atrocities and urged women to participate in efforts to make the state “addiction-free”. The announcements were made as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 76th birthday was marked across the country on Thursday.
