West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. (Express photo by Renuka Puri)
CHief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that the government will increase the monthly grant to civic volunteers and health workers. Mamata announced that from October 1, civic volunteers will receive a monthly grant of Rs 8,000 instead of Rs 5,500.
Addressing a gathering at Nazrul Mancha, Mamata said, “Civic volunteers in the state have done a very good job. We had increased their grant from Rs 3,300 to Rs 5,500 before. Today I am making the announcement that they will receive Rs 8,000 as monthly grants from October 1. We will also recognise the contribution of home guards if they do a good job. We will provide them training and appoint them as police constables.”
The announcement from Mamata came after the end of panchayat polls where civic volunteers were deployed at polling booths for security.
The state government, sources said, was satisfied with the work of civic volunteers on the polling day (May 14). There are nearly 1 lakh 20 thousand civic volunteers in the state.
Monthly grant of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) workers and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) was also increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000. They work under the state health department. About 50 thousand ASHA workers and 2 lakh 30 thousand ICDS workers will be benefitted.
Meanwhile, the chief minister conferred the highest civilian award of West Bengal — Banga Bibhusan — upon singer Asha Bhonsle, Bengali movie superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee and Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen, among others, for outstanding contributions in various fields.
“We must dream and work towards realising it. Our aim is to make Bengal the best in the world. Bengal is the cultural capital of the world, it merit is famous globally. Bengal shows the way to the world in every sphere,” Mamata told the gathering.
Mamata also conferred the ‘Banga Bhushan’ awards upon singers Sriradha Bandyopadhyay, Arundhati Home Chowdhury and voice-artist Partha Ghosh.
After coming to power in the state in 2011, Mamata had instituted the ‘Banga Bibhushan’ and ‘Banga Bhushan’ awards in recognition of the services of eminent personalities in their respective fields.
With PTI inputs