Mamata Bannerjee in Cooch Behar

 

COOCH BEHAR, Sept. 1: On her third day of north Bengal tour the Trinamul Congress supremo Miss Mamata Bannerjee addressed a huge gathering at Gosairhat High School ground in Sitalkuchi of Cooch Behar today.

 

During her address she demanded taking over of the homesteads of eminent social reformer Thakur Panchanan Barma and legendary Bhawaiya artiste Abbasuddin and declaring them as National memorials.

 

She mentioned the plights of the jobless workers of the closed and abandoned tea estates of north Bengal and sharply criticised the Left Front government for the deaths occurred in those gardens.

 

The Trinamul leader alleged that hundreds of unemployed youths are going away from Cooch Behar district every year to seek jobs in outer provinces. Here, under leftist rule there is no industry to provide jobs for the unemployed. The government is busy in placing fruitless foundation stones only, she alleged. She also came down heavily on the CPI-M and the Left Front government for widespread corruption in the Panchayat system.

 

Miss Bannerjee recalled that when she was the Union railway minister she introduced train service along Changrabandha-Maynaguri section in north Bengal but later that was discontinued. The people of this region are suffering due to lack of that train service, she alleged. She declared that Trinamul Congress is getting ready to launch a movement for resumption of the abandoned railway service between Changrabandha and Maynaguri.

 

Sitalkuchi was selected for today's gathering to highlight the "forcible cremation" issue. The Trinamul Congress supremo talked with the parents of Madhabi Barman who was allegedly cremated alive forcibly on 22 June without the consent of her parents. The father and mother of the victim - Mr Lalit Barman and Mrs Banubala Barman - were present on the dais today. Miss Bannerjee instructed the Cooch Behar District Trinamul Congress president Mr Rabindra Nath Ghosh to initiate a case against the accused seven CPI-M men that were allegedly involved in the gruesome incident.

 

It may be mentioned here that Madhabi Barman (15) of Dakshin Nalgram village of Sitalkuchi in Mathabhanga sub-division was allegedly cremated by some miscreants stated to be CPI-M activists on 22 June . Earlier, Ms Sonali Guha (MLA), a close confidant of Miss Mamata Bannerjee had visited Dakshin Nalgram village with other leaders of the party on 30 June and submitted a detailed report to Miss Bannerjee. []