Krishnagar (WB): In an apparent move to
woo the minority ahead of municipal and assembly elections in
West Bengal in the next one year, Chief Minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee on Saturday night said his government wanted for a long
time to reserve ten per cent jobs for Muslims.
"There was a legal barrier so long, but the report of
Ranganath Mishra Commission has given us the scope to reserve
ten per cent of the government jobs for Muslims in West Bengal
who consist of 25 per cent of the (state) population,"
Bhattacharjee said at a programme here.
"We are in the process to reserve ten per cent of the
jobs for them, considering all the legal aspects,"
Bhattacharjee said at the programme where he formally set
forth the process of disbursement of cheques to the
beneficiaries of West Bengal Minorities Development and
Finance Corporation under its various loan and scholarship
schemes.
Affirming his government's commitment to the
minorities, Bhattacharjee said, "We have given Rs 276 crore as
loan to the minority community people in Bengal, of which Rs
17.17 crore was spent in Nadia alone."
He asked boys and girls of the community to pursue
education and added they would be assisted economically by the
government.
To queries by the media on the issue of nuclear plant
in Haripur, Bhattacharjee shot back "I have not come here to
discuss Haripur".
During the programme, the CM handed over cheques to 25
beneficiaries under the Minority Woman Empowerment schemes.
Bhattacharjee who later met local officials arrived in
the district from neighbouring Murshidabad last night as
part of his district tours all over state.
WBMDFC Chairman Md. Salim, Minister for Panchayat and
Rural Development Bankim Ghosh were present at the programme.
Ghosh said the CM was keen to be updated about the
status of preparation of Ration Cards, NREGS, SC/ST
certificates.
The chief minister later inaugurated a website of
district rural development department and said he had urged
the Governor of Reserve Bank of India to be more flexible in
sanctioning loans to Self Help Groups.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 14, 2010, 00:21