Kolkata: Ruling Left Front in West Bengal
on Monday took strong execption to the removal of the foundation
stone laid by President Pratibha Patil at Joka in South 24
Parganas district for a Metro Rail project.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose demanded to know why the
foundation stone was removed, who the land belonged to and
under which laws it was acquired.
"We want all these questions answered," he told
reporters.
The stone was removed by metro officials just days after
it was laid by the President on September 22.
However, metro officials said the foundation stone was
removed to as they wanted to preserve and protect it from any
damage and once the metro station is built at Joka the stone
would be placed again.
They added that the land where the metro station
would come up belonged to the Bratachari Samity which has
agreed to hand it over to the metro and land acquisition
process is still on and would be completed soon.
Meanwhile, referring to the issue of corruption, Bose
said that the Left Front has announced a fortnight-long
movement on scams including the 2G spectrum allocation and a
close watch would be kept on whether UPA ally Railway Minister
Mamata Banerjee commented on them.
"We have not heard as yet anything against the scams. Let
us see which way the water flows," he said in reply to a
question.
"Large-scale corruption cases and scandals including the
2G spectrum allocation involving Rs 1.76 lakh crore have
occurred which has lowered the country's image and also
affected development work," he said.
The large amount of money involved could have been used
for strengthening public distribution system, welfare schemes
and people working in the unorganised sector, he said.
Bose, the state secretary of CPI(M), also alleged that
two Trinamool Congress-controlled zilla parishads in East
Midnapore and South 24 Parganas districts had failed to
properly implement the MNREGA providing 100 days work.
PTI
First Published: Monday, November 29, 2010, 20:07