Within one year, Bangla Sahayata Kendra (BSK) across the state increased revenue 79%. Now, State government decided to increase number of outlets of BSK.
West Bengal government started Bangla Sahayata Kendra for many years. These centres basically help people to apply many government schemes and get many services. But, from 2023, state government allowed BSKs to do financial transactions. Through BSK, people can now pay electricity and other bills. They also can apply many government schemes, can also apply for caste certificates, Aadhar card etc. people also can pay land registration fees.
Financial transaction increased revenue
After allowing financial transactions, in 2023, Bangla Sahayata Kendra earned Rs 169 crore government revenue. In 2024, that revenue increased to 303 crores. Which is increased by almost 79%. State government sources said, right now there are 3561 Bangla Sahayata Kendras across the state. After this huge increase of revenue, state government decided to increase such centres. A senior official of state administration said, “In 2025, number of BSK may increase to four thousand.”
According to state administration, these Bangla Sahayata Kendras are now very popular among the common people. “From 2021 we started Duare Sarkar project. People accepted that project very positively. We realised time is constraint for any person. So, for many government projects, many people don’t take that benefit because they can’t apply for that. So, if we arrange next to doorstep, they will apply for that and get benefit of that particular projects,” said a senior official of finance department.
He further added, “Duare Sarkar organised twice of thrice in a year but people can apply different government projects or paying bill across the year through Bangla Shayak Kendra and that is why BSK became so popular after it started financial transactions. Now you can consider, a person used to give electricity bill going electric supply office and standing in a queue for half an hour or an hour. Now in BSK nearby his house, he or she can give the bill within five minutes. They also can apply for Aadhar card and many other government services from Bangla Sahayata Kendra.”
Bangla Sahayata Kendra to become like ‘Duare Sarkar’
So, government is thinking to give service through BSK across the year like ‘Duare Sarkar’. For that reason, government is planning to increase BSK numbers across the state. According to state government’s statistics, till date 1 crore 39 lakh people got service from BSK in these two years. Out of that, 25 lakh people are from scheduled caste and around 7 lakh from Other Backward Classes (OBC). Two districts, East Bardwan and East Midnapore took maximum service of BSK in last year.
Now, one person easily can know the location of BSK from his residence through google search. People used to get service of Sasthya Sathi, e-KYC, caste certificate and e-wallet transaction.
