Resuming her visits to the districts after more than seven months, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday chaired an administrative meeting at “Uttar Kanya” building in north Bengal.
Ms. Banerjee, who is on a four-day visit to north Bengal, said the new farm laws will devastate farmers and said she will direct officials to take steps to protect the interest of the farmers. “The farm laws will devastate the farmers. They will only help the hoarders. The laws will not serve the interests of the farmers. We will soon convene a meeting of officials to see what can be done to protect the interest of the farmers.”
After the passage of the Bills, the Trinamool Congress has held protests across the State.
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Defending the Centre, BJP Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee said the Trinamool Congress is trying to mislead the farmers. “Farmers are not going to face any distress. The middlemen who fund the Trinamool Congress are going to face all the hardship,” Ms. Chatterjee said. Congress MP from West Bengal Pradip Bhattachrya urged the Chief Minister to pass a legislation in the Assembly to negate their impact.
During the administrative meeting which went on for more than an hour, the Chief Minister touched on a number of welfare schemes and government services, from housing for the poor to disbursement of caste certificates. Ms. Banerjee directed the officials to step up development work in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar districts and look into the grievances on a daily basis. She also asked the officials and the public representatives not to lower the guard on the management of COVID-19. The districts of north Bengal have relatively fewer cases than south Bengal.