by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Kolkata : Ridiculing Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s call for “Delhi Chalo” to her workers, West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Monday said after her party’s performance in Tripura polls, she should better concentrate on Bengal and stop being a big mouth.
“Trinamool has polled less than 0.3 per cent votes in Tripura, which is even less than the votes recorded under NOTA (None of the Above) in the election. But still Didi (Banerjee) dreams of going to Delhi.
“Her party has shut shop in Manipura, its shutters have come down in Tripura, the signboard has been removed in Punjab… So, she should desist from taking about Delhi, stop being a big mouth and rather concentrate on Bengal,” he said.
About Banerjee’s efforts to cobble up a third front, Ghosh said: “Who will she join hands with? RJD leader Laloo Prasad is in jail, she cannot decide whether to holds hands of the feuding father or the feuding son of the Samajwadi Party. And so, she has now joined hands with the Shiv Sena, which she has been labelling as communal all these years.”
On reports that TRS leader K.C. Rao would come to Kolkata on Tuesday and talk to Banerjee, Ghosh said: “I would caution him that before reaching Bengal, he should read Didi’s history. Whoeve she has joined hands with has been ruined. So I urge KCR, not to hold hands with her.”
Responding to Banerjee’s allegation that the BJP and the RSS cadres were throwing meat at religious placed to foment communal trouble, Ghosh said: “Banerjee is seeing nightmares in Bengal after what happened in Tripura. Be it BJP, or RSS, whoever is involved, the court will give them punishment.
“But how can she say so? Cadres of Jamaat, SIMI and Al Qaida are roaming freely in the state. They are being arrested daily,” he said.
Asked whether the Tripura verdict — where the BJP has come to power by unseating the 25-year-old Left Front regime — would impact Bengal, he said: “It is already… It has already impacted Trinamool.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP and the RSS of trying to inflict a communal riot upon the state by secretly throwing meat in religious places.
She urged the police to form community development committees in every locality to catch the offenders and to engage the local people in keeping an eye on such incidents.
“They have started a new conspiracy recently. They are giving money to some people and asking them to throw meat in temples and mosques. This is a conspiracy, a deliberate attempt to inflict a communal riot by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh),” Banerjee said during an administrative meeting in Jhargram.
“They are doing this to start riot between the two communities. I am sure they would try the same trick during Ram Navami. I do not need to see who is Hindu and who is Muslim. I am in favour of everyone. An offender is an offender.”
Banerjee said she has instructed the inspectors in-charge in all police stations to be alert.
“We have seen this happening in two places in the North 24 Parganas district in quick succession. Some BJP-RSS activists were arrested in the incident in Habra. That’s why I am taking their name. If Trinamool Congress activists had been arrested, I would have mentioned them as well,” said the Trinamool Congress supremo.
“Involve the local public. If someone catches such offenders, award him or her with a prize money of Rs 1,000. I will provide jobs to some and money to others if they successfully intercept such offenders.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Kolkata : Slamming the reduction in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) interest rate, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the BJP-led Central government of snatching away people’s money and defrauding banks in the name of ‘Acche Din’ (good days) .
“BJP’s ‘acche Din’ means snatching away people’s money, extorting money from the banks and make everyone penniless. Even yesterday, the EPF interest rate has been reduced by one percent. Before the BJP came to power the interest rate was 8.8 percent… it has dipped to 8.5 percent in the last few years,” Banerjee said at a public meeting in North Dinajpur district’s Hematpur.
Referring to the Rs 11,300 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, she claimed the Central government tries to neutralise such massive money frauds by taking away money from the common people.
“Whenever there is a massive fraud, they (centre) try to balance it by taking money out of the common man’s pocket. Imagine how much money they are taking away from every individual by reducing the interest by one percent,” she said.
“How can such scams happen. These are government organisatons. But there are no audits, no CAG reports,” she said.
The Trinamool Congress supremo said while the interest rates on various schemes have been drastically reduced, while people are also skeptical about their savings in the banks due to the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill.
“They are reducing the interest in Provident Fund in the name of increasing the daily allowance of the employees. The savings rates have also been reduced. Moreover, people are not sure if they would get back their money kept in the banks,” Banerjee said.
“If the proposed FRDI bill gets implemented the banks take a call on whether the customers and fixed deposit holders would get their money back or not,” she warned.
Banerjee further accused the centre’s ruling party of trying divide people along communal lines all over the country before elections and snatching away money from banks and people’s pockets after the elections are over.
She also criticised the centre for the possible disinvestment in companies like Burn Standard Co Ltd, that is considered to be the “pride of Bengal”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday demanded a thorough investigation into the fraudulent transactions worth $1.8 billion in Punjab National Bank and said she would not let the Central government off the hook until the people’s money is secured.
Banerjee said she has written to the Finance Ministry to scrap the proposed Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill.
“Today people are shocked to see what has happened in the Punjab National Bank in Mumbai. There has been a scam of Rs 11,000 crore. This is the money of common people. Who took away the money? Who ate it up?” she asked during a public meeting in Jhargram district.
“Offenders will run away after stealing the money but what will happen to the common man? Scams like this must be investigated. The security of people’s money must be ensured. We will not let them (the Central government) off the hook until that happens,” she said.
PNB, the second largest public sector bank in India, detected some fraudulent and unauthorised transactions (messages) at $1,771.69 million (around Rs 11,515 crore) in one of its branches in Mumbai for the benefit of a few select account holders.
The fraud was detected on Wednesday in the PNB’s Brady House Branch in south Mumbai, which is its second-biggest lending branch in the country. A CBI probe has been initiated into the matter and 10 employees of the bank have been placed under suspension.
Accusing the Centre of trying to take away the people’s money deposited in the banks with its FRDI Bill, Banerjee said she has written two “strong letters” to the Finance Ministry demanding the withdrawal of the bill.
“We asked the government to withdraw the bill as they are trying take away the money of the common people. This must not happen. The finance minister acknowledged my letter but then sent a reply through a state minister saying the bill would not impact anything,” the Trinamool Congress supremo said.
“Today I have written one more strong letter before coming here demanding the withdrawal of FRDI bill. Eating up the money of common man will not be allowed.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Business Summit, Economy, Events, Large Enterprise, News, Politics
Kolkata : In the shadow of slower economic growth in the country after the implementation of new indirect tax regime and a renewed anti-land acquisition protest at Bhangar in the state, the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government is to inaugurate the fourth edition of its annual two-day business summit on Tuesday that will see participation from over 30 countries.
The authorities are yet to formally announce any list of Indian business captains who would attend the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), 2018.
But industry doyens like Reliance Industries’ Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Steel maker ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal, JSW Group’s Chief Sajjan Jindal, city based FMCG major ITC’s CEO Sanjiv Puri, RP Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Chairman Sanjiv Goenka and others are expected to attend this year’s summit.
In an effort to shed the state’s investor-wary image and woo much-needed business capital, the state government had reached out to various parts of the country and even foreign countries in the lead up to the event, being held in the sprawling Biswa Bangla Convention Centre at Rajarhat in Kolkata.
Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea and the UK are among the overseas nations to be represented at the mega business gathering.
Consul General of China in Kolkata, Ma Zhanwu had recently confirmed 30 Chinese companies would participate in the business meet and according to him, Chinese companies aimed at utilising BGBS and other opportunities towards fulfilling the goal to invest $200 billion abroad every year.
Italy will also be participating in this edition as a partner country in the Summit for the second year in a row, with an expected delegation of more than 30 companies where the sectors most represented will be transport and infrastructure, metals and leather.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will likely be signed in the leather sector, for new technologies and training programmes.
A high level Polish delegation headed by Marek Magierowski, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for the relations with Asia and economic cooperation, will participate in the BGBS.
Representatives of Silesia, an economically robust region of the east European country, and West Bengal will sign a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral cooperation.
In order to ensure a strong foreign imprint, the state government organised a series of interactive sessions on business opportunities in Bengal in Germany, the UK and The Hague, Netherlands.
High powered officials and business delegation had also fanned out to China, South Korea in last October and Thailand in last August-September.
According to state Finance, Commerce and Industries Minister Amit Mitra, there would be thousands delegates at the plenary session, including a strong presence from countries where manufacturing units are really strong.
However, key central government figures, most notably Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari would likely be skipping the summit and their absence could be attributed to the deteriorating relations between the BJP-led central government and the state’s Trinamool Congress regime.
Chief Minister Manata Banerjee has been vocal against the central government’s decision to recall Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) without enough preparation.
In a desperate attempt to turn things around in terms of investment in Bengal, she has appealed to industrialists time and again to infuse investments in the eastern state, to meet the huge demands for jobs.
Banerjee also frequently tom-toms the state as a zone of “industrial peace” where not a “single manday” is lost due to industrial disputes and gate-way of North east India and South-East Asia.
The state topped the provisional ranking of Ease of Doing Business for implementation of criteria in the Ease of Doing Business reforms though the ranking is dynamic and will continuously undergo changes, until the freezing of rankings.
However, such claims may have lost some sheen in view of the fresh trouble in South 24 Parganas district’s Bhangar, with violent clashes between villagers and the Trinamool’s activists over acquiring land for setting up a power grid project.
The 104-day shutdown and unrest in the Darjeeling, called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha following the disputes between the state government and the principal party in the Hills, had affected the investment climate in the north Bengal.
However, the situation in the hills has been normalising day by day, the government claimed.
The fresh chapter of the summit would focus priority areas for attracting investment, such as transport, urban development, power, medium and small-scale enterprises, IT and ITeS and infrastructure, health, education, skill, agro and food processing.
The sessions would include sector-wise discussions to project the possibilities and potential of Bengal in front of investors.
The state government is expected to announce its IT policy in the summit and the new industrial policy as the existing one will expire by end of March this year.
According to the state government, the 2015 summit had fetched investment proposals to the tune of Rs 2.43 lakh crore and the 2016 edition received over Rs 2.5 lakh crore of investment proposals.
Over 2.35 lakh crore of business announcements were received by the state in the last edition BGBS.
—IANS
