Midnapore: Former West Bengal Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday accused the Trinamool
Congress-led government in the state of making frivolous
expenditure while not paying salaries of employees citing lack
of funds.
"The government is giving grants to clubs, but is not
paying salaries to the Transport Department and other
employees. The government is claiming lack of funds, but it is
making frivolous expenditure," Bhattacharjee told a CPI-M
rally here.
Alleging that the present dispensation stopped the
government dole of Rs 1500 to workers in closed tea gardens
leading to starvation deaths, Bhattacharjee, said "The
government is claiming it has no money as we had made the
state bankrupt. But we had not stopped doles and subsidies."
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has on several occasions
said that the previous Left Front, which ruled the state for
34 years, had made the state bankrupt and left behind a debt
burden of Rs 2.3 lakh crore.
Bhattacharjee alleged that the government was not buying
paddy from farmers leading to their suicides.
Leader of Opposition and party leader Suryakanta Mishra
claimed that 31 farmers committed suicide because of poverty.
"The chief minister is blaming the Centre for all ills in
the state, but it cannot absolve itself of its
responsibility," he said.
CPI(M) state secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose
accused the Trinamool Congress of having hobnobbed with
Maoists in 'junglemahal'.
"More than 250 CPI(M) cadres and supporters were killed in
West Midnapore district alone since 2007," Bose said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 01, 2012, 18:20