An anti-Trinamool Congress (TMC) demonstration took place in the Rajarhat area on the south eastern fringes of the city perhaps for the first time since the party came to power for the second time in May. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when a truck, allegedly belonging to a ruling party-backed syndicate, accidentally ran over a woman and her minor son. The TMC leadership denied the allegation. 'Syndicates' are described in Kolkata as the local-level cartels involved in the supply of construction materials.
At around 11.30 am Sabera Bibi (27) and her three year old son, Sohan, were traveling in a rickshaw near the gate of a residential complex in Rajarhat. Suddenly a lorry, that came out of the complex, hit them killing the mother and the son instantly. The locals said that the lorry to supply construction materials belonged to the syndicate run by TMC's sympathisers.
“Two lives are lost because of the TMC-backed syndicate business in the area. They block more than half of the road in front of the housing complex everyday to unload construction materials and trucks recklessly go in and out of the complex,” said a family member of Sabera Bibi. They further alleged that despite being repeatedly informed about the activities of a syndicate in the area police has not taken any action so far.
Following the incident a mob of about 30 local residents not only damaged the the truck but also wreaked havoc at the under construction residential complex near which the incident took place and at the office of the syndicate. While the driver of the truck has been arrested, the TMC officials denied the allegation.
"It is an unfortunate accident. But none of our party members are involved in the matter. The allegations are baseless,” local TMC MLA Sabysachi Dutta told The Hindu.
The incident assumes significance as it took place in an area where the ruling party bagged all the three Assembly seats. However, the margin of TMC candidates in Bidhannagar, Rajarhat Goplalpur and Rajarhat New Town Assembly seats are considerably low and have not crossed 10,000. Realising that the party is losing base in the new city of Rajarhat the TMC management decided to crack a whip on the infamous syndicate business, run mostly by the leaders and the cadres of the ruling party. Eventually few TMC cadres, including two ruling party councillors, were arrested.
