Calcutta, Oct. 21: The Trinamul Congress will boycott chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?s meeting in Bongaon tomorrow called to assess the extent of damage caused by the recent floods in Gaighata, Bongaon, Bagdah and Swarupnagar because of the overflowing of the Ichamati and Jamuna rivers.
?We will not attend the meeting because we feel that the state government has not done anything to desilt the Ichamati and Jamuna rivers,? said Jyotipriya Mallick, the Trinamul MLA from Gaighata in North 24-Parganas district.
Mallick alleged that more than five lakh people in Gaighata, Bongaon, Bagdah and Swarupnagar have been marooned for the past three weeks and have not got any relief from the state government. Local CPM activists are controlling ? and have politicised ? the distribution of relief material, claimed the Trinamul leader.
The state government had taken up a scheme to desilt the Ichamati and Jamuna rivers in 2002.
However, this has not been completed. As a result, there is massive water logging in Bongaon, Bagdah, Swarupnagar and Gaighata.
Relief minister Hafiz Alam Sairani, who had visited Bongaon in the beginning of this month to supervise the distribution of relief material, had received complaints about the inadequate supply, as well as about the politicisation of the distribution of the material.
The state finance minister, Asim Dasgupta, had also visited Bongaon recently and faced a group of angry residents who had echoed these complaints.
Bhattacharjee has also reportedly received complaints from some party colleagues in North 24-Parganas district about the inadequate supply of relief material and the failure of the state irrigation department to carry out the desiltation of the rivers in time. Trinamul members have also complained to the chief minister about the problem in Bongaon.
District magistrate Manoj Pant said the chief minister will meet district irrigation and relief officials tomorrow at the office of the block development officer in Bongaon. The focus of discussion at the meeting would be water logging and the supply of relief material.
