`Laxity' warning on welfare schemes

DEVADEEP PUROHIT, TT, 23 October 2019, Siliguri: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday indicated to elected representatives and officials that she would not tolerate any laxity in implementing the government's flagship programmes, issuing the warning armed with inputs from the Didi Ke Bolo drive.

At an administrative meeting in Uttar Kanya, Mamata asked district administrations to spell out whether the farmers were getting the benefits of all schemes, whether the targets of job creation were being achieved and whether people were getting the cards under the Swasthya Sathi group insurance scheme.

"I want a full report on what you are doing," Mamata said at the beginning of the administrative meeting with the officials of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri.

As the representatives of the districts presented their report cards, Mamata, accompanied by chief secretary Rajiva Sinha, quizzed the officials. The specificity of the questions indicated that the duo had boned up on the performance of the administration.

"Lakhs of people are giving live feedback on government projects through the Didi Ke Bolo programme… Then, there is the chief minister's grievance cell. It was clear that she had the reports on performance of the individual districts," said a source.

According to the source, the feedback from the two initiatives indicated that one of the major reasons behind Trinamul's poor show in the Lok Sabha polls was people's anger with the ruling party's local satraps and ground-level officials. Much of the resentment stemmed from bribes allegedly demanded for benefits under government schemes.

Most complaints in the Didi Ke Bolo programme were about demands for money from officials and leaders to clear benefits and payments under several welfare schemes.

In her attempt to set things right, Mamata has been trying to address the issue by prodding both the elected representatives and the government officials to work efficiently. "There should not be any delay in distributing caste certificates for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes," said Mamata.

The next question was on progress in distributing benefits under Krishak Bandhu scheme through which the government gives financial assistance of up to Rs 5,000 a year to farmers. "Are farmers getting compensation for crop loss?" she asked.

After taking stock of the performance on government schemes, Mamata spoke to representatives of the industry and enquired about their problems.

"Tea is so important for Bengal but I have heard that tea from Nepal is entering the Indian market with the tag of Darjeeling Tea. What are you doing about it?" she asked.

She assured the tea industry that the cabinet would soon clear a proposal so that gardens can use a part of the land for other purposes, which would help them deal with their cash-flow problems.

She asked the stakeholders of the tourism industry -- another revenue-earner in the region -- to "properly market" north Bengal as a destination. She agreed to a proposal to start courses on travel and tourism and tea research in North Bengal University.

Then, she turned to finance and industry minister Amit Mitra and urged him to carry forward the government's plan to create more job opportunities in the region. "We have to crate more space for smaller IT (information technology) firms," the chief minister said..