Addressing a gathering of Durga Puja organisers, by the Kolkata Police at Netaji Indoor Stadium today, chief minister Mamata Banerjee for the second consecutive day today, came down heavily on the scourge of ragging and asked the city police to crack the whip on those offenders indulging in it in state-aided educational institutions so that none could summon courage to indulge in such acts.

On safety and security during the Pujas, the chief minister asked all stakeholders, including the city police, the KMC, the fire brigade to work in close cooperation with the Puja organisers to make it successful. She announced that the government, this year, will be doling out Rs 70,000 to about 43,000 Puja committees, a hike of Rs 10,000 from last year’s Rs 60,000.

Amidst the widespread condemnation of ragging at Jadavpur University, chief minister Mamata Banerjee today inaugurated an anti-ragging helpline (1800-345-5678) of Kolkata Police with an eye to give more teeth to the city police to curb the menace.

Besides, she also took pot shots on the alleged raids by the central agency on Monday at a company allegedly related to her nephew and Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. Unveiling the toll-free number, Miss Banerjee said that should anybody fall victim of ragging, he or she should call the number for help without any fear.

She asked the city police commissioner Vineet Goyal to keep the number of the said complainant a secret and act against the alleged offenders without any delay. She also took the occasion to launch a fresh tirade against the central agency alluding to Monday’s marathon raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at a company named Leaps and Bounds, of which Sujay Krishna Bhadra, an accused, is a CEO. In a stinging attack on the central agency, the chief minister alleged that the central agencies are acting unabashedly with a narrow political agenda to defame her family.

Abhishek returned to the city from the US yesterday. She alleged that in the name of raids, they (central agencies) were unleashing terror by trespassing into one’s residences without any warrant or prior information, thus breaching one’s privacy and security at will.

She also questioned the alleged approach by the central agencies, saying who would guarantee that they were not keeping an explosive or a firearm, taking advantage of the alleged insecurity of the residents. This, she called, is the vendetta politics of the Centre, which she said was being unleashed in all Oppositionruled states