Kolkata, Nov 1 (UNI) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the West Bengal Government’s relentless dedication and commitment to ensuring “Food for All” is reflected in the efforts to eradicate corruption and eliminate fake ration cards from Bengal.
Banerjee said, ” We spent 7-8 years to eliminate 1 Cr fake ration cards in Bengal. ”
” GoWB’s relentless dedication and commitment to ensure Food for All is reflected in the efforts to eradicate corruption and eliminate fake ration cards from Bengal, ” she added.
She also stated, ” If the BJP-led Central Government fails to release the rightful dues of Bengal’s poor people, we’ll hold a meeting at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on 16th Nov. ”
This meeting will further decide the course of action, Banerjee said.
” BJP FAILED even after employing all of its corrupt tactics to suppress the voice of Bengal. If we didn’t back down then, we won’t back down now, ” she asserted.
Meanwhile, State Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday alleged that the Ration Distribution Scam in the state is just the tip of the iceberg.
Adhikari said, ” The real iceberg of corruption is fake Paddy Procurement. Hundreds of crores have been siphoned in this manner. ”
” The Food and Supplies Department has been registering the names of the farmers who were supposedly willing to sell their harvest at MSP. In the year 2017-18, the number of registered farmers were 4,64,616, ‘ he said adding, ” The number rose to 28,15,107 in 2021-22; with a cumulative addition of 5,46,598 farmers in the said year only. ”
” I would like to kindly urge the @dir_ed to verify the details of the farmers, as my reliable sources within the Department confirm that more than 60% of them are fake, ” he alleged.
The payment made for fake procurement of paddy, which would account for more than 50 per cent of the actual procurement, were done through SKUS, which are under the influence of ruling party leaders, Adhikari further alleged.
” The Rice Mills which procure paddy made the payments to the SKUS, who in turn deposited the amount in bogus accounts, ” he stated.
” An audit of these SKUS and tallying the accounts where in the amounts were deposited would unearth the Scam, ” he said and added, ” Believe me the scale of the Scam would be shockingly huge, even by the standards of the corrupt TMC Ministers. “
