KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday made his intention clear to drive out alleged illegal immigrants from the state, stating that "detection and deletion" from the electoral rolls had already been carried out, and "deportation" would commence shortly. He also announced that the state government had initiated the process for the Census exercise, which he claimed was delayed by the previous Trinamool Congress government.
Adhikari's Statement on Deportation
"First we detected (illegal residents) in the voters' list, then we deleted (them) from the list, and now the time has come for (their) deportation," Adhikari said at a gathering in Kolkata's Camac Street. However, he did not specify any timeline for the deportation process.
Action Against Illegal Constructions
Referring to the violence that erupted during the state government's drive against illegal constructions in Kolkata's Tiljala area, Adhikari said: "You have seen the action in Tiljala. They have moved the court and they are free to do that. There is no building plan with them and we will not allow such things any more. They will have to pay the price for what they have done in Park Circus. They vandalised a police phari in Asansol. There will be 200% consequences."
Changes in Bengal
Adhikari also noted a perceptible change in Bengal in the past few days. "Sikhs are exempted from wearing helmets. Rest of the population has to wear helmets. Loudspeakers should remain confined to religious premises. A lot of work will be done soon," he said.
Public Grievance Programme
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister held his first public grievance outreach programme, 'Janatar Darbar', at the Salt Lake BJP office. The programme, scheduled to be held every Monday, will be conducted both at the party headquarters and at the administrative level. "We have started this programme from the party office. This is a programme where people will speak to us directly," said Adhikari, who was accompanied by BJP state general secretaries Locket Chatterjee and Shashi Agnihotri.
About the Author: Rohit Khanna covers sectors like government finance, economy, industry and issues related to financial crime.
