The Opposition Saturday targeted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the Bengal Government first put restrictions on movement of vehicles between Jharkhand and Bengal and then hurriedly lifted the restrictions after 12 hours.
Taking to his X handle, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wrote, “Mamata Banerjee caves in to the insurmountable pressure created by the consolidated efforts of @HMOIndia, @NHAI_Official, @MORTHIndia and the resilience of the People of Jharkhand who started agitating against her for blocking the vehicles going from Jharkhand to WB.”
He then added, “Mamata Banerjee, nowadays, has gotten in the habit of taking one step forward and going four steps backward. It started from the RG Kar incident, every step taken by her as an Administrator and as TMC Supremo have backfired. It is only the beginning, from now on Mamata Banerjee has to keep retracting and retreating.”
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “Chief Minister Banerjee suddenly said that she will cut off all relations with the DVC (Damodar Valley Corporation). After that, she realised it was impossible to supply sufficient electricity to the state without the DVC. She then stopped vehicle movement along the Bengal-Jharkhand border. Then the administration realised such a step would hurt West Bengal’s interests. Naturally, she retracted again.”
While visiting flood-affected areas in the state, CM Banerjee on Thursday termed the recent flood in Bengal as a ‘man-made’ one. She said, “It is a planned flood. We repeatedly told the DVC not to release water but they are continuously releasing water. Even on Thursday morning, they released water, and new areas got flooded… we have to cut off all communication with the DVC. We will start a big movement against this.”
After the Bengal Government lifted the restrictions on goods vehicles, Sajal Ghosh, General Secretary, Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators Association, said, “Closing the border without notice is illegal. The Union Government wrote a letter to the state government at 4 pm. We also warned the state government that if it did not lift the ban, we would go on an indefinite strike. After that, the state government lifted the restrictions.”
Reacting to the controversy, a state home department official said, “We stopped transportation because of the flood situation. The situation improved, so we have allowed vehicles to again ply through the Bengal-Jharkhand border.”
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