October 10, 2012
Chief Minister distributes loan and scholarship to minority community, greets all on the occasion of Puja and Eid
`I have already conducted similar camps across five districts and will soon conduct in the rest of the camps too. Today we have come here to conduct the camp for the Kolkata and outskirts. I welcome you all`, were the words of the West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee who distributed loans and scholarships under Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion the Chief Minister said that the Trinamool Congress led government is committed to towards the development of the minority community. It was the Trinamool Congress that got the bill suggesting a 17 per cent reservation for the Others Backward Class (OBC) in the State passed in the Assembly. `It proves that our government is committed towards the development of the minority and unlike the previous government, the Trinamool Congress did not sit over the bill. We did not take a long time and done it within a short span of one year and few months`, said the Chief Minister. `We decided to include the Sikh community in the OBC category`.
Those who speak Urdu, Hindi, Santhali, Gujarati, Nepali, Gurmukhi are already included in the linguistic minority community. She said that the government will build houses for 20,000 minority families under Gitanjali project. `We previously had an allocation of nearly 680 crore for the development of minority community and after the budget the funds were raised`, said the Chief Minister. The funds will be utilized to build nearly 38,000 houses, 8,000 tube wells, 722 health centres, 8200 additional classrooms, 83 girl�s hostel, 56 marketing hubs. The Chief Minister said that the marketing hubs will accommodate more than 1000 people in each hub which would accommodate nearly 56,000 people enabling them to earn their livelihood.
`We have already constructed Minority offices across districts and will soon complete the work in other districts too. Apart from that we have constituted an Employment Bank and I would request my brothers and sisters from the minority community to enroll their names irrespective of educational qualifications. You may have studied upto fourth standard or even less but please do not hesitate to enroll your names as you may have expertise in repairing television or in some other fields`. Chief Minister requested officials of the development offices to educate people about the Employment Bank and help them to enroll the names`, she added. `I want you to get higher education. I will be happy if you become self independent in your lives. I request you to go for higher education like doctor, engineer or go to administrative services. All I want you is to take the initiative and come forward. All the expenses will be carried by the government`, said the Chief Minister.
The government has taken the initiative already to give recognition to 10,000 Madrasah across the state and requested all those willing to open Madrasah to deposit their papers at the minority offices across the districts, `We have simplified the procedure as earlier one needed to have a big space but after assuming power we said that anybody with willing to open a Mardarsah and having proper papers will be allowed to open Madrasah`, said the Chief Minister.
`I am happy to inform you that the amount of scholarship for the minority community students which was four-lakhs rupees earlier was raised to 12 lakhs after the Trinamool Conghress came to power. At present the amount is 16-lakh rupees and I assure you that soon we will allocate 22-lakh rupees for the same. I want the students of the minority community to get proper education and become self independent`, added the Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister informed that the State government is constructing six- Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and three-polytechnics for the minority community. Apart from that nearly 350-crore rupees is being spent to build a state-of-the- art Alliah University which she said would house students not only from Bengal and India but across the globe. `I want this university to become one of the best universities in the world and students to come to study from all over the world. The university is being build on a 20-acres of land`, she said.
The Wakf Board in the State has already taken an initiative to build a hostel for minority working girls and an empowerment cum hostel.
The Chief Minister also complemented the Haj Committee for making proper arrangements for those who went to Haj. She said that for the first time they could book their luggage directly at the Haj House.
The Chief Minister conveyed her greeting to all on the occasion of Durga Puja and Eid. She said that all the communities are equal and those who indulge in differentiating between the communities have a dirty mind and want communal tensions to take place. She requested all to abstain from communal tension and maintain peace harmony in the State.
`I will request the Minority department to keep up the good work that you are doing`, added the Chief Minister.
