Mamata Banerjee on Monday laid emphasis on transparency in government projects, redress of people’s grievances and proper execution of welfare schemes at her first district review meeting amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The chief minister held the review meeting of Howrah, Hooghly, North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas districts over video conference.

Here is a sum up of the key issues raised by Mamata during the meeting she held from Nabanna.

Transparency 

The chief minister first raised the issue of repeated breach of river embankments, which left hundreds of villages marooned in the past few days, particularly in South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas.

“Some of the embankments, which were breached, have been repaired recently (after Amphan). Those who are doing it (the repair) should do it seriously. I would like to know the reason behind these (the breaches),” said Mamata.

Sources said local people blamed the breaches on irregularity on the part of the authorities in carrying out the repair.

In Bengal, repairing an embankment remains a political issue. Every time when an embankment is breached, it is alleged that the repair was not done properly by the executing agency but the authorities cleared their payment without raising questions.

Mamata asked the finance secretary to ensure that agencies supplying bicycles under the Sabuj Sathi scheme took liability of the defective cycles for the next three years so that they could be replaced or repaired.

There were complaints that the state government was supplying to students bicycles of inferior quality even though it had spent handsomely over the past few years under the scheme.

The chief minister then said her government maintained transparency while battling the pandemic.

“We have received little over Rs 150 crore in the Covid fund (where the state government appealed to donate) and we are spending the amount through finance department by maintaining transparency,” she said apparently to counter the allegations that funds were misappropriated while buying equipment and other items to battle Covid.

Welfare schemes

Mamata laid stress on continuing welfare schemes and undertaking the pending schemes, which could not be completed because of the pandemic, immediately.

The chief minister was visibly unhappy with the backward classes welfare department as it could not complete distribution of nearly 2 lakh bicycles though it was supposed to be completed by March.

“I want the students to get the cycles as soon as possible. It is your responsibility to send the cycles to the homes of the beneficiaries as schools are closed,” she said.

Mamata asked finance secretary H.K Dwivedi whether required permission had been given to the backward classes welfare department for procuring 2 lakh bicycles. As the finance secretary said the permission had already been given, she asked the department to complete the process at the earliest.

The chief minister has also asked officials to ensure that students get scholarships on time even though schools and colleges are closed these days. The same missive was for old age pensions and benefits for tribal and Scheduled Caste populace.

Mamata finally asked the officials to make necessary arrangements so that she could release all benefits — which are transferred directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries — through a programme on Wednesday.

Addressing grievances

Mamata directed the officials to address the grievances, which were lodged with the chief minister’s office and forwarded to them for necessary actions.

“Some departments are not dealing with these properly. Departments like panchayat, labour, PHE and agriculture have not addressed many of the grievances forwarded to them,” said the chief minister.

She said 95.7 percent of the grievances forwarded to officials had been addressed in Hooghly. Similarly, Howrah has addressed 95 percent of the grievances, North 24-Parganas 93.20 percent and South 24-Parganas 93.96 percent grievances.

Mamata asked the officials concerned to address the complaints as soon as possible as people had expectations when they sent a letter seeking redressal of their problems.

Sources said Mamata was depending heavily on addressing grievances as she had received feedback that this helped her regaining people’s faith at many places after the Lok Sabha polls where the ruling party in Bengal lost 18 seats to the BJP.

“After the Lok Sabha polls, the grievance redressal cell was activated and it received more than 8 lakh complaints within one-and-a-half year. According to records, more than 90 per cent of the complaints were resolved so far. This has apparently negated the anti-incumbency wave to some extent. This is what the state agencies reported,” said a bureaucrat.