West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today asked people to not hand over money to anyone even if they say it is being collected in order to be sent to Kolkata. Banerjee has said that she had learnt about such unfair practises among a section of people seeking bribes or extorting money from the poor, and that included the police. She was speaking at the administrative meeting in Gurap of Hooghly district.
The CM has been bringing out the flaws of her administration and party publicly – an exercise that has somewhat stumped the opposition parties in Bengal. She said last week that traffic police personnel and civic volunteers were extorting money from the poor in the name of traffic violation fees. Banerjee said it was bringing a bad name to the political party and leaders. Yesterday, at the administrative meeting in Burdwan, Banerjee asked senior police officer Surajit Kar Purakayasta who wanted money in Kolkata because apparently police extorted money saying it had to be “sent to Kolkata”.
Banerjee used the opportunity to pass on the message to the “dishonest and corrupt” lot. She clarified today however, that many had misinterpreted her question to Purakayastha, and said that he is an honest officer. She said that those against whom she had pointed fingers had themselves figured out what she meant.
The Bengal CM said that people should not have the misconception that work for the people required money to be paid somewhere. Neither was party fund collected from the districts. Similarly, police need not be paid money either, she said.
“I have often heard that money has to be sent to Kolkata. But to whom?” she asked, and clarified that the money didn’t go anywhere. “Please don’t give money to anyone who says they need it for sending it to Kolkata either for government work or for the party,” she said.
Banerjee reviewed the overall law and order situation in Hooghly district and especially discussed improvement of roads. She objected to the fact that the state government was spending crores for the improvement of roads, but there were posters all over that said that the Centre was spending money.
