Not a single genuine voter should get left out, Mamata tells DMs
Mamata Banerjee
on Thursday told district magistrates that not a single genuine voter should be struck off electoral rolls, stressing that "absence from home" could not be a presumption for "making a decision".
Senior govt officials who attended the meeting said Banerjee repeatedly told DMs — who are also district election officers — that everyone should be given a fair chance to explain themselves before their names are deleted from the rolls.
The CM also flagged her concern that around 1,000 govt staffers, booth level officers (BLOs) and their supervisors were sent to Delhi for training without even informing Nabanna. "I did not know about it," a senior officer said, quoting the CM.
You Can Also Check:
Kolkata AQI
|
Weather in Kolkata
|
Bank Holidays in Kolkata
|
Public Holidays in Kolkata
The prescheduled meeting with the DMs was timed ahead of Bengal govt's ambitious Rs 8,000 crore Amar Para, Amar Samadhan (my neighbourhood, my solution) project launch statewide on Aug 2. In this project, govt officers will meet people and chart their priorities for work to be done with a budget outlay of Rs 10 lakh per booth. There are over 80,000 booths in Bengal.
Speaking on the electoral rolls issue, Banerjee reiterated that names of voters should not be deleted whimsically, and all should get a chance to defend themselves as part of natural justice.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Brought to you by
isolvedhcm.com
Undo
BLOs must revisit homes where residents are absent, the CM said, "as people can be out of their homes for days or weeks". BLOs should visit the homes of absentee voters twice or thrice to locate them, Banerjee said. She wanted a proper survey of voters by BLOs and wanted them to work in an unbiased manner.
Banerjee also asked DMs to engage as many migrant workers as possible — who are returning home after being harassed for speaking Bengali in different states — in Karmashree scheme.
The CM had earlier indicated that the state govt was planning to provide jobs to these workers. The rehabilitation of these assaulted migrant workers was also being chalked out, Banerjee had said.
On Amar Para, Amar Samadhan, the DMs were alerted so that trivial issues are sorted out instantly and grievances like potholes or repair of taps are taken care of. As part of this project, Banerjee also wanted drainage solutions in rural areas and flood relief to areas that are marooned.
The CM asked for evacuation of people from low-lying areas where there are chances of fresh floods.
The secretary in the North Bengal Development department, D Nariala, was asked to keep tabs on the flood situation as excess water release from Teesta barrage might worsen the situation. The DMs were asked to keep track of waterlogging, put stress on dengue prevention drives and accelerate shopping mall project in districts where products of self-help groups would be on sale.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scroll.in
4 minutes ago
- Scroll.in
‘Vacate Upper Assam in 24 hours': Amid evictions, Miya Muslims given ultimatums
The Assam government on Sunday launched an eviction drive targeting about 350 Muslim families, most of them Bengali-origin or Miya Muslims, who had been living at the Nambor South Reserve Forest in the Golaghat district. Amid the eviction drive, videos by news outlets showed Assamese nationalist groups going door to door threatening Miya workers to leave Upper Assam. Members of the groups were seen warning Miya Muslims to leave the Sivasagar district in Upper Assam, where ethnic Assamese communities are in the majority. A video by News Live showed Situ Baruah of the Jatiya Sangrami Sena warning a Bengali-origin Muslim man from Hojai district in middle Assam and saying: 'Shut up, you have to vacate Upper Assam within 24 hours.' The Golaghat district administration said that 'encroached areas in Gelajan and 3 No. Rajapukhuri' were cleared on Sunday. The administration said that 350 families were evicted and nearly 1,000 bighas of forest land were reclaimed. 'The eviction drive was carried out peacefully, without any resistance, reflecting the coordinated planning and execution by the authorities on the ground,' the district administration said. A district official told Scroll that most of those evicted were Miya Muslims who had encroached on forest land since the early 1980s. Some of them claimed to have settled in the forest land in 1978, the official added. This was the seventh eviction carried out in Assam since June 16. Since then, about 5,300 families, mostly Bengali-origin Muslims, have been displaced from their homes. Many of them have been forced to live under the open sky or in roadside makeshift huts made up of tarpaulin tents and sheets. On Saturday, the Golaghat district authorities ended the first phase of a large-scale eviction drive in the Rengma Reserve Forest, Golaghat district. Over 1500 families were evicted and over 4,000 structures were razed in five days. The evicted forest area lies in a contested area on the state's border with Nagaland, called the disputed area belt. District authorities said that in the past five days, 'vast stretches of encroached forest land have been reclaimed, with illegal structures dismantled across key high-density zones including Bidyapur, Pithaghat, Sonaribeel, Doyalpur, Dolonipathar, Kherbari, Anandapur, and Madhupur'. Special Chief Secretary MK Yadav also stated that about 205 families in the Negheribil area under Merapani, located within the Doyang Reserve Forest, have been served eviction notices, with the eviction scheduled to commence from 8 August. The displaced residents have accused the state government of selective targeting during the drive based on religion and ethnic identity, as non Muslim residents of Rengma Reserve Forest were not evicted. In Guwahati too, the non-Muslim residents allegedly encroaching on land were not served with eviction notices, while their immediate Muslim neighbours were issued such notices. Commenting on these allegations, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said his government will not evict the ' indigenous population ' as it doesn't does not consider the "unauthorised occupation" of public land by indigenous people as encroachment. Sarma said the government will continue its eviction drives against encroachments by "suspected foreigners" across the state. "There are two types of encroachments,' he said, according to PTI. 'If indigenous people are living (unauthorisedly), then we don't consider it as encroachment. Those who have come from Bangladesh, we consider only those cases as encroachments.' In Assam, Miyas or Bengali-origin Muslims, are frequently vilified as foreigners or undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh, even though they have proof of citizenship and have been living in the state for generations.
Time of India
19 minutes ago
- Time of India
'Go to hell': Trump slams Schumer as senate leaves 130+ nominees unconfirmed before August recess; urges GOP to hold line
US President Donald Trump, left, and senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (Image credits: AP) US President Trump launched a scathing attack on senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on Saturday, telling him to 'GO TO HELL' after the Senate left Washington for its August recess without confirming over 130 of his executive branch nominees. A deal between Republicans and Democrats collapsed, and many key appointments remain stalled. Trump had urged the Senate to stay in session, but negotiations failed— leaving dozens of political appointees in limbo and the president fuming. 'Senator Cryin' Chuck Schumer is demanding over One Billion Dollars in order to approve a small number of our highly qualified nominees, who should right now be helping to run our Country,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Trump was reacting to what he described as an unreasonable demand by Senate Democrats, accusing Schumer of tying nominee approvals to a $1 billion funding request, reported The New York Post. 'This demand is egregious and unprecedented, and would be embarrassing to the Republican Party if it were accepted. It is political extortion, by any other name. Tell Schumer, who is under tremendous political pressure from within his own party, the Radical Left Lunatics, to GO TO HELL!' he added Trump followed up with urging Republicans to hold firm and use the recess to rally public support, rather than accepting a compromise with Democrats. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like You Eat It Almost Every Day - But Now It's Linked To Memory Loss And Dementia Memory Control Click Here Undo 'Do not accept the offer, go home and explain to your constituents what bad people the Democrats are, and what a great job the Republicans are doing, and have done, for our Country. Have a great RECESS and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!' Senate majority leader John Thune acknowledged the failed negotiations and the multiple attempts to reach an agreement with Schumer before recess. 'There were several different times where I think either or both sides maybe thought there was a deal in the end.' Thune had been working with Schumer on a proposal to bundle nominee votes into two rounds—one before the recess and another afterward. But Democrats were reportedly seeking guarantees from Trump to restore funding for foreign aid and the National Institutes of Health, which the administration had frozen. The breakdown led to frustration on both sides, and senators were eager to begin their August break. Schumer, under pressure from his party's progressive base, later celebrated the failure of the confirmation deal. 'Let me clear what happened: Donald Trump attempted to steamroll the Senate to put in place his historically unqualified nominees. But Senate Democrats wouldn't let him,' he said in a post on X Sunday. 'Donald Trump's style: Posture[,] Cajole[,] Stamp your feet… and then give up,' he added in a follow up post. With the deal dead, some Republicans suggested changing Senate rules to prevent Democrats from blocking confirmations. However, moderate GOP senators were reluctant, fearing the same rules could be used against them in the future. Thune allowed the Senate to continue holding pro forma sessions, ceremonial meetings that block Trump from making recess appointments, ensuring his nominees cannot be confirmed without Senate votes. Although the Senate passed three of twelve required appropriations bills, several key funding bills remain stuck in committee. According to senate appropriations chair Susan Collins, it marks the first time since 2018 that any funding bills were passed before the August recess. If the remaining bills aren't approved by October 1, the government faces a partial shutdown, The New York Post reported.
India Today
20 minutes ago
- India Today
How Trump tariffs could impact Indian pharma's $8.7 bn dream run
For long, the high-value US market has driven the growth of the storied Indian generic drugs industry, where companies like Cipla, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Laboratories, among others, have successfully challenged hundreds of off-patent drugs in the US and established a soaring business FY24, India exported $8.7 billion (Rs 76,113 crore) worth of pharma products to the US, which comprises over 11 per cent of India's total merchandise exports to that the same period, India exported $77.5 billion (Rs 6.8 lakh crore) worth of merchandise goods to the US and imported $42.2 billion (Rs 3.7 lakh crore) worth of goods from it, resulting in a trade surplus of $35.3 billion (Rs 3 lakh crore) in India's US is India's largest destination for pharma exports, accounting for over 31 per cent of the country's total pharmaceutical exports. As much as 47 per cent of all generics consumed in the US are imported from India. However, the Donald Trump administration's threat of imposition of a 25 per cent reciprocal tariff from August 1 (up from 0 to 6.7 per cent at present) has thrown the Indian pharma industry in a bind. Shares of Indian pharma companies, led by Sun Pharma, fell close to 6 per cent on the NSE (National Stock Exchange) on August 1 following president Trump's statements on the tariff imposition, and his letters to 17 top US pharma companies asking them to reduce their rates in line with what prevailed in other countries. Some fear Trump may send a similar letter to Sun Pharma, which earns as much as 20 per cent of its total revenues from the US Indian industry was hoping against hope that Trump would not hike tariffs on generic drugs since these are life-saving. However, Trump had indicated earlier this year too that tariffs on pharma products would be 25 per cent from April 2 onwards, without pinpointing any nation. He later gave a 90-day reprieve to countries, and the new deadline for the tariffs was put as August imports roughly $800 million worth of pharmaceutical products from the US, and imposes a tariff of 10 per cent. Experts say that even if higher tariffs are imposed on active pharma ingredients (APIs), which are raw materials going into pharma production, India could still be competitive, if tariffs on other API-supplying countries are higher than that of the US will still be dependent on countries like India since the cost of manufacturing certain drugs in the US would be at least six times compared to that of manufacturing the same product in India, say industry US market, which relies heavily on India for APIs and low-cost generics, would struggle to find alternatives, according to Namit Joshi, chairman of Pharmexcil (Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India). 'Efforts to shift pharmaceutical manufacturing and API production to other countries or within the US will take at least 3-5 years to establish meaningful capacity,' he was quoted in media reports. advertisement'There is no need for panic. The industry should lie low for now since the US has not yet increased the tariffs. Who else can give the US such competitively-priced goods in large quantities and high quality?' Daara Patel, secretary general of the Indian Drug Manufacturers Association, had said in an interview to INDIA TODAY in April. 'Even if it increases up to 10 per cent, the industry should be able to absorb it or pass it on to the US consumers. They would not mind paying for it since it all works on insurance money,' he what if the US decides to go for a higher tariff? 'In case the US raises tariffs beyond 15 per cent, India will have to look at newer markets in East Africa and the Middle East. These markets are neither high value nor high in volumes, but it will be a better option than dealing with an uncertain US market alone,' Patel had saidSubscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsTune InMust Watch
