Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on her first visit to Jhargram after storming back to power earlier this year danced with tribal women and played Dhamsa on International Tribal Day at Jhargram today.
Helped by MLA Birbaha Hansda, she wrapped the traditional tribal attire. Miss Banerjee said the Centre should immediately bring a law to protect the land rights of the nation’s tribals by disallowing the transfer of their plots to those belonging to non-tribal communities.
“We made several commitments including student credit card, Duare Sarkar, new medical colleges before the state polls and we fulfilled most of them. Among a few, Duare Ration is pending and it will be rolled out in the next two months,” Miss Banerjee said.
“Beneficiaries of the ‘Lakhi Bhandar’ scheme would start receiving it from 1 September,” she added. The state government believes in taking along everybody and doesn’t discriminate, she maintained. “We have taken all steps for the development of the tribal communities of our state. Nearly 95 per cent of the tribal population in Jhargram has received benefits from state government schemes.
“We have also created a separate department for the welfare of tribals and to ensure their land rights are protected,” she said. Miss Banerjee listed various developmental projects by her government to develop the Junglemahal region. She has inducted three women legislators as new faces from Junglemahal-Birbaha Hansda, Jyotsna Mandi and Sandhyarani Tudu.
Several eminent personalities of tribal and students from Lodha and Sabar communities were felicitated besides distributing “dhamsha” and “madol” among artists from the tribal community. The CM is scheduled to review the flood situation in Ghatal on Tuesday.