Trinamool Congress would win the election: Abhishek Banerjee at Asansol rally

Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee addressed a rally of party workers at Sitalpur Football Ground in Asansol on Wednesday, January 27. Present along with him were the All-India Secretary of Trinamool Congress, Subrata Bakshi, and ministers Moloy Ghatak and Arup Biswas.

In an spiring speech, Abhishek Banerjee said, ”Don’t worry about coalitions; CPI(M) and Congress won’t be able to make any headway. The flood of development that the Mamata Banerjee Government has brought to West Bengal would wash out every Opposition effort to oust it … it’s Trinamool Congress which would win the election.”

Attacking CPI(M) leader Surya Kanta Mishra, he said, “He would lose by 30,000 votes. Now he calls himself an ex-minister. Soon he would be calling himself an ex-legislator.”

Subrata Bakshi was also there to inspire the workers, “… Strengthen the organisation … Do not say anything to embarrass the party. Development is the final word.”

 

ভোটে তৃণমূল জিতবেই: অভিষেক বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়

বুধবার দুপুরে আসানসোল উত্তর থানার শীতলপুর ফুটবল মাঠে এক কর্মিসভা করেন তৃণমূল যুব কংগ্রেসের সভাপতি অভিষেক বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়। ওই কর্মিসভায় উপস্থিত ছিলেন শ্রমমন্ত্রী মলয় ঘটক, যুবকল্যাণ ও ক্রীড়ামন্ত্রী অরূপ বিশ্বাস প্রমুখ।

অভিষেক বললেন, ‘জোট নিয়ে চিন্তা করবেন না। জোট করে সি পি এম, কংগ্রেস সুবিধা করতে পারবে না। বাংলার বুকে মমতা ব্যানার্জি যে উন্নয়নে জোয়ার এনেছেন সেই তৃণমূল দলকে উ९খাত করতে পারবে না কেউ। তৃণমূল জিতবেই।’

সূর্যকান্ত মিশ্রকে আক্রমণ করে অভিষেক বললেন, ‘উনি এবার যেখানেই দাঁড়ান তিরিশ হাজার ভোটে হারবেন। উনি এখন নিজেকে প্রাক্তন মন্ত্রী বলেন‍। এরপর উনি নিজেকে প্রাক্তন বিধায়ক বলবেন।’

সুব্রত বক্সি কর্মীদের সতর্ক করে দিয়ে বলেন, ‘সংগঠনকে জোরালো করুন, ঐক্যবদ্ধ হন।  এমন কাজ করবেন না, যাতে বিড়ম্বনায় পড়তে হয়। উন্নয়নই শেষ কথা।’

 

 

WB Govt allocates Rs 100 Cr for the welfare of tea garden workers

A group of ministers (GoM) formed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to extend a series of benefits in the areas of food, health, power and education for the employees of not only closed or abandoned tea gardens but also of the stressed ones.

The GoM has decided to allocate a Rs 100 crore Tea Garden Employees’ Welfare Fund (formed in early 2015) as corpus for the benefit of the ailing tea garden workers.

The GoM headed by finance and industries minister Dr Amit Mitra had an hourlong meeting with the officials of education, food, health, PHE and power departments on Friday to discuss the strategy and modalities.

The other members of GoM also include power minister Manish Gupta, rural development minister Subrata Mukherjee, education minister Partha Chatterjee, north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, labour minister Moloy Ghatak and agriculture minister Purnendu Bose.

It was decided that a task force will be formed under the district magistrates of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar to oversee the implementation of the relief measures on a day-to-day basis. The state government has set a deadline of seven days to supply power directly to the workers houses in all the 234 Dooars gardens.

Besides free power, the state is organising a free kitchen in over 30 stressed gardens in Dooars.

Pepsico to invest Rs 500 Cr in Bengal: Labour Minister

World renowned company Pepsico is investing in Bengal on a large scale.

The company has decided to invest Rs 500 crore to set up a large manufacturing unit at Asansol, Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak said.

As per the instructions of the Chief Minister, Pepsico has been allotted 40 acres of land already at Dharma mouza. Employment opportunities for 2500 people have been created initially, with scope of further employment in the future.

Labour Minister said that at the initiative of West Bengal CM, the government now gives speedy land clearance to investment proposals. He said the departments of land & land reforms and industry are coordinating in ensuring ease of doing business in the State.

Companies like Pepsico are investing in Bengal because of the new Industry Policy formulated at the initiative of WB CM, the minister opined.

 

This is based on a report published in Sangbad Pratidin on 15 September, 2015

The image is a representative one

Rs 100 Cr for welfare of tea garden workers

The Mamata Banerjee government will set up a Rs 100 crore corpus fund for the welfare of the 2.62 lakh tea plantation workers in 283 registered tea estates in Bengal.

Labour minister Moloy Ghatak tabled the West Bengal Tea Plantation Employees’ Welfare Fund Bill, 2015, which was passed in assembly on Thursday .

The minister pointed out that many tea estates not belonging to corporate houses or established tea families often violate provisions of the Plantation Labour Act, 1951, that provides for free housing, medical facilities, primary education, water supply , electricity and food grains to workers.

Smaller tea gardens deny these rights, saying they don’t have the money for it. This is why an inter-ministerial committee set up by the Centre and governments of Bengal and Assam recommended that the state share some of the statutory social security measures.

Accordingly , the government will sanction soft loans from the corpus fund to defaulting employers to help them discharge their statutory responsibilities. Children of workers will be given scholarships to study in technical institutes.The corpus may also be used to grant incentives to investors who come forward to take over sick or closed tea gardens.

West Bengal plans minimum wage laws for domestic help

The West Bengal government is considering framing laws to determine wages of domestic help, and has asked departments for their feedback on the subject, a minister said on Wednesday.

“Fixing wages is under consideration, and we have asked for feedback from various departments, including social welfare and labour, on this matter,” state Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak told a news agency.

He said the government was looking into various aspects before finalising a directive or regulation since there were different natures of work done by domestic help.

“The issue of non-standardised work hours is there. While some of them work in a household, attending to its sweeping needs, others may work as cooks etc. Besides, there is no particular time of work for them,” he said.

Ghatak said the state government has already framed laws over health benefits and other social sector schemes for the unorganised work force in the state.

“We already have these schemes running and the domestic help can avail these schemes,” he said.

Maidservants across the state have been asking the state to determine their wages, and are also pressing for several social sector benefits.