January 21, 2011
Mamata pressures the Union Government over black money issue
New Delhi, Jan 20: On Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee put pressure on the Union Government to take action on the thousands of crores of black money that is illegally kept in the Swiss Banks. She also gave a letter protesting the rise of petroleum prices to the Prime Minister. In the cabinet meeting, Mamata today made it clear that thousands of crores of Indian money is being horded into the Swiss banks by a clan of corrupt people. But actually this money belongs to the country and its working population. When she raised this issue, other important ministers like the Finance Minister, the Home Minister was also present in the meeting. Later it was learnt that the centre has decided to look into the matter. As it involves diplomatic relations between the two countries, the first thing to be reviewed is the kind of bilateral treaties India has with Switzerland. According to Mamata, there are some accounts in the Swiss banks and the amounts stored in them are surprising. But the money belongs to the general people of India. So if we can retrieve the amount, it would change the social and economical state of the country. Lots of times in the past, the same issue has come up but no steps have been taken by the Union Government. In fact, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court has expressed their dismay over the lackadaisical approach to the issue by the government. Therefore, it is quite significant that today, Ms Banerjee has raised the issue in the cabinet meeting itself.
