Trinamool criticises 11-page Annapurna Bhandar form filling process – The Hindu

Trinamool Congress has criticized the Bharatiya Janta Party government’s Annapurna Bhandar scheme in West Bengal for its tedious form filling process. The Congress State chief also wrote a letter to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to facilitate the process.

TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee reviewed the form on his social media on Friday, May 29, 2026 and wrote, “Pre-vote assurances; only post-vote memories.” He also shared photos of a half-page draft form allegedly shared by the BJP before the elections and the 11-page form the new government had recently released.

Annapurna Bhandar is a social security scheme under which women in the state will receive a direct cash transfer of ₹3,000 to their banks every month. The previous TMC government had launched the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme in 2021 and reached almost 2.4 crore women across the State. The TMC government paid ₹1,500 per woman and the BJP promised to double the supply of dolls once they come to power.

Annapurna Bhandar scheme form, Citizenship (Amendment) Act status, whether names have been deleted under Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, social status of individuals, vaccination status of children, number of literate and illiterate family members, bank account details of family members, health insurance status, total land holdings of the family etc. It asks for details such as.

Digging into this issue a bit, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh asked why welfare schemes became conditional under the BJP. “So the logic of the new @BJP4Bengal Minister is simple: If you have not taken the vaccine provided by the Government of India, do not bother to seek benefits from the Government of India welfare schemes!!!” he wrote on his social media.

Mr Ghosh also raised questions about why women have to give details of their entire family when cash transfer assistance is only for women.

Meanwhile, netizens on social media are making long-form memes and mocking videos for the 11-page long-form released by the State government for the Annapurna Bhandar scheme.

“One or two pages is enough. How do we fill out such a big form? We are not that educated. This money was supposed to be mine, why do I need to add my wife’s account information?” a woman asked.

The program is planned to be implemented from June 1, but the uncertainty surrounding the form filling process has left many people skeptical.

“We can provide Aadhaar and voter cards, but it is not possible for illiterate people like us to provide the number of documents they require. We decided not to fill the form,” said another woman enrolled in the Lakshmir Bhandar programme.

Meanwhile, Congress State chief Subhankar Sarkar has written a letter to West Bengal CM stating that the long form filling process is creating problems among people. “I request you to take immediate and necessary steps by the State government to simplify the form prepared for Annapurna Bhandar,” Mr. Sarkar’s letter written on Friday, May 29, 2026, said.