The Assam government on Tuesday disbursed ₹9,000 each to nearly 4 million families as part of it’s flagship beneficiary scheme, Orunodoi. The move comes just days ahead of the Election Commission’s expected announcement of schedule for state assembly elections. The dates for the poll are expected within a week and voting likely to take place in April.
“From 1.8 million beneficiaries in 2020 when Orunodoi was launched with ₹830 per month to each beneficiary, now the scheme covers 4 million women. Still around 10% of eligible women are not covered by it. To ensure that they also get included, BJP has to come to power again,” said chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at an event in Guwahati.
He said that ₹17,000 crore has been disbursed under the scheme till date and an additional ₹3,600 crore would get transferred on Tuesday. He said that the monthly sum of ₹1,250 would also get hiked once the BJP comes to power again.
“Right now you are getting free rice given by Centre and one kilo each of pulses, sugar and salt every month at a cost of ₹100. We want to give these items free of cost to you once our government comes to power again and also provide 500gm of tea leaves to each family,” said Sarma.
On Tuesday, a record amount of ₹3,800 crore was doled out on a single day under the scheme launched in 2020 to empower women from economically disadvantaged families.
While the government directly transfers ₹1,250 per month to bank accounts of beneficiaries, this time it decided to hand over payments of four months (from January to April) and an additional amount of ₹4,000 for Bohag Bihu, the Assamese new year festival in mid-April.
Besides the main event held in Guwahati, where thousands of beneficiaries took part, programmes were held in 3,800 venues across the state including panchayats and municipal wards where the sums were transferred.
Reacting to the move, the Congress unit in Assam in a post on X termed the move to give ₹9,000 in one go ahead of the election as an attempt to ‘buy votes’— a charge which Sarma rejected.
“This is a controlled scheme which has been going on since 2020 and has nothing to do with election. It’s a compassionate scheme with a strict eligibility criteria. If it was aimed at winning an election, we would have included everyone,” said Sarma.