 |
| Partha Chatterjee at North Bengal University on Friday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo |
Siliguri, Feb. 3: Asok Bhattacharya's posers on how a cash-strapped government could spend crores on fests and beautification drives sparked a verbal duel today, with Partha Chatterjee asking the former minister to dwell on his own “non-performing” role in the Left cabinet.
Bhattacharya, the former municipal affairs and urban development minister, demanded that chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her cabinet colleagues explain why a bankrupt government, which was resorting to lay-offs to curtail expenses, was hosting the North Bengal Festival.
“We are not against the festival or the beautification of Siliguri. But how can the state spend so much money on a fest when government transport corporations are retrenching employees? What is the benefit of holding such elaborate programmes for seven days? We demand clarifications from the chief minister herself, who is regularly complaining about paucity of funds,” Bhattacharya said at a news conference here today.
The loss-making North Bengal State Transport Corporation has recently instructed its depots across the region to retrench his casual staff members — some of whom have been working for 15 years — sparking widespread condemnation.
The former Siliguri MLA and CPM strongman said the chief minister and her colleagues were oblivious to the problems plaguing the tea industry and the plight of its jobless workers, many of whom had starved to death in the past few months. “On one hand, the government is spending lakhs on a festival while on the other hand, people are starving to death on tea estates like Dheklapara. This is an utter contradiction. The chief minister must answer to people about the functioning and priorities of her government,” Bhattacharya said.
He said issues like infant deaths and development work for the poor had not been attended to while funds distributed as pensions to widows and the elderly had become irregular. “The government seems to be least bothered about taking up these issues. Instead, it is hosting festivals.”
Chatterjee, who was quick to come to the rescue of his government, said the Left was responsible for the present state of affair as it had left behind debts of Rs 2 lakh crore. “The North Bengal Festival is not only a cultural event but a platform also to make important announcements aimed at improving the region,” said Chatterjee, who had come to North Bengal University where he is doing his PhD.
The chief minister will inaugurate the seven-day event on February 10. She will use the occasion to announce several projects for the region and kick off a campaign to bolster the fortunes of Trinamul in north Bengal.
Trinamul minister Gautam Deb refused to divulge the amount being spent on the festival. “Several departments are involved besides my department (north Bengal development) — information and culture, floriculture, horticulture and tourism to name a few. So it is difficult to say which department is spending how much,” Deb said.
He had however said earlier that nearly Rs 79 crore would be spent to beatify Siliguri — another grouse of Bhattacharya. The money will be sanctioned in phases, Deb said, adding that the chief minister was committed to the citizens here to make Siliguri the gateway to the Northeast.
“Instead of hurling baseless charges at us, Asok Bhattacharya should think about his failure to perform as one of the key ministers in the earlier government. It was during his tenure that the government incurred such huge debts.”
Chatterjee said the government had a slew of plans for north Bengal in terms of tea, tourism, jute and cottage industries to be announced by the chief minister during her visit.
“We will also hold meetings with the business community of north Bengal to discuss new projects and problems they are facing,” he said(Telegraph)
0 comments:
Post a Comment