Over 50 buses carrying thousands of beneficiaries of the Centre’s flagship schemes for rural jobs and housing left Kolkata for the national capital on Saturday, to protest the Union governent’s “denial of funds” for these welfare schemes in West Bengal.
Beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) began trickling into Kolkata from remote parts of the State in groups of 10 or 12, as early as September 28, hoping to take a train to Delhi from Kolkata. But late on September 29, with the the Eastern Railway denying the Trinamool Congress’ request for a special train, the gathered people had little option but to travel by bus.
