Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today stressed on the need for officials to reach out to the people through various development work– from the refugee colony to the proposed Teesta City in Siliguri. Miss Banerjee also indirectly warned the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), which is presently run by a Board of Administrators led by the Left, and asked her party man, the chairman of the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), why he was delaying the Teesta project work.

While observers said that the CM had the upcoming Assembly elections in mind as she spoke so, Miss Banerjee also launched a scathing attack on the Centre and termed the recent Farm Bills as “Sarvanash” (disaster) for farmers in the country.

Speaking during an administrative meeting for Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts at Uttarkanya here, she also asked administrative officials to promptly provide benefits to the people like caste certificates and free-hold title deeds in a simpler manner. Other districts of North Bengal were connected online during the meeting.

As the CM discussed distribution of freehold title deeds on state, Centre and private land without certificate from MLAs, state tourism minister Gautam Deb pointed out to problems at Shahid Colony under the SMC. Miss Banerjee came down heavily on the same and raised questions on what she called the “Red Letter Diary,” which she said was creating problems. While she may have been referring to the SMC BoA chairman Asok Bhattacharya, who has been appointed so by the state government, she did not take names.

“There is no need to obtain certificate from the MLA, while self-declaration is enough for freehold title deed,” Miss Banerjee said, adding, “Caste certificates will be given to the applicants by birth, based by the applications through a simple system.”

Miss Banerjee not only criticised SJDA chairman Bijoy Barman, but also asked Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak to work for public interest by checking the “inspector raj” in his department. The CM also reminded him that she had received several complaints related to the labour department.

Miss Banerjee also expressed concern over the tea sector and asked officials and the police to take action against the Alchemist group, which owns tea gardens that are presently not operational in the Hills.

Significantly, one of her party men pointed out: “Madam, you believe in one union in the tea sector, but flags of two unions affiliated to our own party are being hoisted in the tea belt.”

Today’s meeting began by bringing back surrendered Kamtapur Liberation Organization (KLO) into the mainstream of society, providing financial assistance to the Kamtapur Bhasha Academy of the Rajbanshi community, mapping of places of pilgrimage including over 18,300 temples and their priests, especially priest Bijoy Chakraborty from Jalpesh Mandir in Jalpaiguri. Though the CM pointed out that the tourism industry had suffered severely, she did not discuss the sector elaborately.

Significantly, the CM expressed unhappiness over the present political trend in North Bengal and said “the yield is less despite massive development,” which her government has brought in.

She also pointed out how “a section” had been applying the “ABCD” (Avoid, Block, Confuse and Delay) tactic to halt development, even as Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha pointed out to the massive campaign for development work and beneficiary schemes.

The CM endorsed a formula proposed by Mr Sinha to ready a catchline for promotional materials to attract people.

“Need to start from the end, not from the beginning. You will have to fix the date for issuing work orders first before fixing the date of floating tender,” Mr Sinha told officials.

Similarly, the CM came down heavily on officials for the way they uploaded data related to Covid-19 and asked officials concerned to upload the same on a day-to-day basis.

She also expressed unhappiness at the way the Press was handled today after she realised that media persons in the other room were not abe to listen to her speak inside the meeting hall. During interaction, the CM also asked officials to prevent coronavirus from entering green zones and protect affected zones. Miss Banerjee further asked officials to complete all pending work and implement development work in the coming six months.

Meanwhile, the CM criticized the Farm Bills and the amendment to the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. She expressed concerns over the Amendment Bill that has removed cereal, pulses, oilseed, edible oil, onion and potato from the list of essential commodities. “It will ruin farmers. Middle men will keep control over those items,” she said, and urged a movement against the Bills. She asked top administrative officials to formulate a policy for the agriculture department of her government.