The Central Government has directed four District Magistrates (DMs) of the State along with 78 other DMs of the country to prepare the infrastructure by July 1 for smooth functioning of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.
The direction came after a meeting to review the progress of the DBT subsidy programme held in New Delhi on Monday. The Union Govt had called DMs of all the 121 targeted districts to discuss operation of the programme.
The Centre asked the DMs to open bank accounts of the beneficiaries within the stipulated time and also directed them to make arrangements to issue Aadhar cards in the name of recipients. From Odisha, four districts, Balangir, Subarnapur, Puri and Cuttack, are included for second phase of DBT, which is going to be operational from June 1. PNS
Through the programme, the beneficiaries would get direct benefit of the Government schemes as the Centre is pressing ahead with plans to credit the subsidy money directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries using the Aadhaar platform, sources said.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia addressed the meeting.