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Krishnagar, Feb. 7: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today gave a sneak preview of her panchayat poll strategy that appears to focus on everyday problems and obliquely acknowledge the limitations in implementing big projects.
The picture that emerged from the chief minister’s meetings in Nadia today was that her government and party would focus on health, minority welfare, backward classes welfare, power, food, road connectivity and youth services.
The thrust suggested that the chief minister did not want to leave room for allegations of an administrative drift ahead of the rural polls scheduled for next year.
“Mamatadi asked us not to raise demands for any big projects. Instead, we were asked to co-operate with the district administration in meeting the deadlines for the ongoing projects. Didi scolded an MLA for demanding a hospital in his constituency,” said a Trinamul MLA. However, Mamata did agree to the hospital proposal and sanctioned it during the administrative meet.
At an administrative meeting, Mamata made it clear that the district administration would have to take charge of non-functioning panchayats. Trinamul sources said Mamata doesn’t want any impediment to her development plans. From the BDOs of Chapra and Tehatta, Mamata wanted to know what were the problems ailing the health system. Demands for paediatricians and anaesthetists were placed before the chief minister who also heads the health department.“DM, SP, SDO, BDO ra ekta chakkar din, taholey i sab kaaj hoye jabe (DM, SP, SDO, BDO should be on the round, that will make things work). Give extra time and your attention,” she said.
At the early stage of the meeting, she discussed rural electrification and termed the performance as dismal.
“In rural electrification, Nadia’s performance is very bad. Boro cultivation must not suffer because of this. Manish Gupta (power minister) and Moloy Dey (power secretary), please look into it. If required, set up a task force,” Mamata said at the meeting, using a microphone to address the 115-strong audience. The meeting was attended by seven state ministers and senior officials.
Mamata wanted to know whether any data on the number of applicants for electricity connections and the list of consumers actually provided were available for all the districts. The district officials said in Nadia out of the 75,000 applicants, 16,000 were given connections.
The chief minister’s next query was on the deadline for completing rural electrification. The officials informed her that the process would be completed by May. “Ensure that electricity reaches every home by Poila Boisakh,” Mamata instructed them.
The chief minister got annoyed with Benfed, the state co-operative marketing federation, for poor procurement of paddy and rice in Nadia. “What is Benfed doing? Benfed ki ghumochchhe (Is Benfed sleeping)?” she asked.
The backward classes welfare department received a pat for meeting the deadline for providing caste certificates.
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