Mamata promises free ration for life for all in Bengal from next year
Addressing the party workers present in over 62,600 booths across the state,through virtual mode from her South Kolkata residence this afternoon marking the 18th anniversary of the annual ‘Martyrs Day’ rally,the Chief Minister blamed BJP for spreading canards against the ruling TMC in the name of alleged corruptions in the distribution of free ration to the Amphan affected people of the state and said, though she had already promised to provide free ration to them till June next year, if returned to power next year(after the 2021 state assembly poll) “I shall extend the facility to the entire population of the state for life along with several other benefits.”
Recalling the deaths of over 100 party workers since the TMC came to power in 2011 and blaming BJP and CPI-M cadres for them, the Chief Minister paid tributes to them along with all others who had lost their lives for political and other reasons during the past several years.
She blamed BJP for allegedly creating a fear psychosis among the common people in all the ruling states including in UP, because of their performance and the culture of fake encounters.
Also alleging that BJP had been making all out efforts to discredit the state government here about the distribution of relief and financial assistance to over 6 lakh people who were affected by the super cyclone Amphan in May, the Chief Minister blamed the Centre for not granting any money so far after the Prime Minister had announced a grant of only Rs 1,000 crores following his brief visit. But the state government despite its meager resources had so far spent more than Rs 6,500 crores, she said.
The Chief minister said among the beneficiaries of a series financial and developmental schemes initiated by her government were not only the poor and the downtrodden, but also the girl child, womenfolk and those belonging to the SC, ST and Minority community besides the farmers of the state.
“We have also introduced the first of its kind ‘ Mati Shristi’ project which was aimed to convert about 50,000 hectares of barren land for development and economic purposes benefitting 2. 5 lakh people,” the Chief minister said.
Regarding Covid-19 pandemic, Mamata Banerjee assured the people, that apart from increasing the number of daily tests from around 1,300 now to at least 25,000 by mid August, her government had decided to increase the number of Covid beds from around 18,000 now to over 23,500 by next month.
“I am confident of an absolute success of our party in the next year’s poll,” she said and ridiculed the BJP for winning only 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state last year.
