Encouraged by the success rate of her pet schemes like Khadya Saathi, Kanyashree that provided rich dividends in the recently-concluded Bengal Assembly elections in which the ruling Trinamool Congress won 211 out of 294 seats, the Mamata Banerjee Government has launched a home delivery scheme for food essentials under the Sufal Bangla project.
The scheme initially targets the urban middle class and later it may be extended to the rural areas, Minister of Agricultural Marketing Tapan Dasgupta said on Sunday.
Accordingly the Government vehicles will home-deliver vegetables, fish, meat, grocery items and even ice-cream upon order, Dasgupta said adding stalls would also be opened at various places for the purpose.
This new scheme would not only help people procure foot items without having to go to the market but also ensure that the consumers get the materials in government-approved price the Minister said adding “for example while the government approved rate for potato is Rs14 as against the market rate of Rs20 in some places the consumer will be able to get the product for Rs14 only.”
Sufal Bangla was launched “under the inspiration and guidance of the Chief Minister and we hope it will not only help the customers get food items at reasonable prices but also in the long run it will help the farmers in marketing their products.”
The scheme is likely to be extended to the rural and semi-urban areas depending upon its success in the urban regions, a senior official said adding “busy and old people are likely to be benefited by the scheme, more so because they will get the products in competitive prices which they may not get in the malls.”
The basic objectives of this project are to help the farmers get premium price and have rational share in consumers’ price, to supply quality produce at less price and make fruit and vegetable market more competitive, the Minister said.
Though the scheme was launched in September 29 it hardly got the necessary success, said sources adding the Government has now devised a new E-delivery scheme so that the items are reached directly to the customers. “Only you need to make a phone call and place your orders and provide your address” an official said adding the phone numbers will be provided in the website in a day or two.
The Chief Minister’s earlier left-leaning schemes like free-cycles to girl students, Rs25,000 to girls reaching age of 18 and Rs2-a-kg-rice had provided her rich dividends in the elections. The Trinamool Congress expects to reap further mileage through Sufal Bangla scheme, insiders said.