Coming down heavily on the saffron party for giving false assurances to the people of Purulia, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said they are the biggest liars who say one thing before election and behave in a different way after the polls are over.

She was addressing a gathering in connection with the distribution of items under various government schemes to the beneficiaries.

“We do not have any MP in Purulia and there are only two MLAs. BJP has hired some people who go to the villages and tell garbage of lies to the people. Their sole purpose is to divide the society and engineer communal disharmony,” she said.

She inaugurated 49 projects and laid the foundation stone of 46 schemes. Various items were distributed among 1.55 lakh people.

Bicycles under the Sabooj Sathischeme were distributed among 39,000 students of state run, aided and sponsored schools and madrasas, who were promoted to Class IX in 2022. Twenty two thousand women, who had applied for Lakshmir Bhandar, were given sanction letters from the state government today.

Miss Banerjee said Purulia is a drought-prone district. The West Bengal government has taken several schemes which have helped the farmers to grow paddy and vegetables.

The state government is setting up a centre at Raghunathpur at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh where natural abir will be produced from Palash flower. She said the farmers are growing vegetables and mango which are in high demand. She said the irrigation tax which the farmers used to pay has been waved off. She distributed musical instruments like dhamsa and madal among tribal folk artists.

Miss Banerjee said earlier, people belonging to SC and ST categories had to run from the pillar to post to get caste certificates. But now, the procedure has been made simple and 8,000 people were issued caste certificates. Miss Banerjee said a scheme has been taken where 2 lakh youths per year will be given Rs 5 lakh as incentive to start business. “Many youths will be immensely benefited by the scheme.”

She said special emphasis will be given to boost tourism in Bankura and Purulia.

“Due to the Maoist movement people did not come to these districts. But now the scenario has changed and Bankura and Purulia have become tourist hot spots.

The chief minister said if things go as per planned, the residents of Purulia will get piped water in near future.