Durgapur: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP-led government at the Center and said the CBI is being used repeatedly to intimidate the opposition. In the administrative review meeting of Purba and Paschim Bardhaman districts, he said that the central agency is summoning and harassing doctors, clerks and even electric rickshaw drivers in the name of investigating the cattle smuggling case.
“CBI is calling whatever it can. You know there is a CBI case going on here. It has called a poor Toto (electric rickshaw) driver from Birbhum. Even a doctor have been called. They are also calling and harassing TMC panchayat members, MLAs as well as journalists. A thousand people are being called for one case,” Banerjee alleged. He urged everyone to continue their work ignoring them.
On June 16, the CBI had summoned a Toto driver in connection with the probe into the cattle smuggling case. Its officials have claimed that influential TMC leaders have allegedly used the services of an electric rickshaw driver in the case. It had also questioned several journalists and senior gastroenterologist Abhijit Choudhary in connection with the matter.
Banerjee, one of the harshest critics of the BJPhas often claimed that central agencies are being misused by the Narendra Modi government to harass the opposition.
He reiterated that there is no harm in calling the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana as ‘Bangla Awas Yojana’ as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have already added states’ names to the programme. “It is my right (calling this scheme as Bangla Awas Yojana),” she said and asked her officials not to list new beneficiaries for the scheme as the Center did not set any target for it. Is.
Banerjee said she would visit New Delhi to find out why the Center stopped releasing funds allocated to Bengal for the housing scheme and stopped collecting dues.
“How can the Center stop the money? We also give 40 per cent of the funds for this (Awas Yojana) project. I need to know what crime we have committed. But till that is not happening, any Do not enter the name of the beneficiary. Bangla Awas Yojana as a center has not set any target.”
Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi, who was present in the meeting, said that no new name has been registered for the ‘Banglar Bari’ project, which is meant for the urban poor. “Those who have already been enrolled will get their allotted funds. The state government has set aside an additional Rs 1,200 crore for this.”
Many government projects are jointly run by the Center and the states and recently there has been controversy over their nomenclature. The Mamata Banerjee government has been alleging that the Modi government is only seeking publicity in all those projects for which the state even gives money.
Banerjee asked the farmers to keep a watch on the sale of paddy so that they get the right price and advised the district administration officials to be more proactive and ensure that the cultivators do not face any problem.
He asked the local leaders to pay extra attention to the service of the people in their respective areas and directed all the Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis in the state to focus only on construction and repair of rural roads.
“Zilla parishads and panchayat samitis now get 15 per cent of the total cost of various works done by it. If rural roads are bad, no one will get votes. Build a road for half the money. If necessary, on your head. Move the bricks the rest of the money will be spent in other areas,” she said and asked them to call if they needed any help.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)