Minister questions artists who are giving up government awards
The minister, who is himself a playwright and theatre artist also enquired if they would be ready to renounce awards given by the Centre.
Trinamul Congress leadership apparently wants to distance itself from Kuntal Ghosh, party’s youth wing leader and an accused in teachers’ recruitment scam, after OMR sheets of TET-2022 examinations were found at his residence.
While reacting to Kuntal’s involvement in the scam, education minister Bratya Basu said today, “Neither the government nor the board (West Bengal Primary Education Board) will take liabilities if any candidate falls into clutches of touts. Don’t get trapped by touts. Work hard and get success.”
“Government is determined to maintain transparency in connection with the recruitment process of teachers and other staff. The board has successfully published results of TET2022 within two months after commencement of examination in December,” Mr Basu said.
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Trinamul Congress leader Kuntal was arrested by the central agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January.
On Wednesday, the ED submitted ‘modus operandi’ of the cash-for-jobs scam allegedly run by Kuntal and former president of WBBPE Manik Bhattacharya to the session court.
The investigating agency claimed that Kuntal and Manik were part of a ‘deeprooted conspiracy’ saying that the candidates who paid money were briefed in advance to answer only two questions on the OMR sheets and leave out the others that would be answered later.
Professor Goutam Pal, WBPEB president, said original OMR sheets of all candidates appearing in the TET-2022 examination are in the safe custody of the board. OMR sheets found in someone’s residence as claimed by the central investigating agency are not originals and that’s why the board is responsible for this, he claimed.
On the other hand, another central agency CBI has also revealed how Kuntal used to take huge amounts of money in lakhs from candidates showing their names in the website of the board. CBI is investigating whether the board website was fake or original.
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