Over 100 villagers walked up to the Malda district magistrate’s office on Tuesday and held a demonstration against allegedly depriving them of benefits of state government schemes for years.

The residents of the Kajigram panchayat in the Englishbazar block held the protest on a day the government launched “Duare Sarkar (government at doorstep)”.

“Hundreds of us have been living at villages under Kajigram panchayat and are being deprived of cash and other benefits provided under different social welfare schemes. That is why we thought of knocking the door of the administration,” said Bappa Mondal, a demonstrator.

Rajarshi Mitra, the district magistrate of Malda, said the authorities would look into the charges levelled against the rural body by the protesters.

Satyajit Chowdhury, the Trinamul pradhan of Kazigram panchayat, however, denied the charges and alleged that the protest had been orchestrated by the BJP.

In Bishnupur of Bankura, over a dozen women demonstrated at a camp set up under the “Duare Sarkar” campaign in ward 14 of the town.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty in Bankura