PURULIA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday rebuked Purulia District Magistrate Rahul Majumdar after receiving complaints of siphoning of revenue collected from brick kilns by "unknown collection agents" and said she would have given a tight slap if any TMC worker was involved in the graft.
She warned of taking legal action against Land Revenue Department staffers if they were found to be involved in it.
"DM, are you listening to the complaints? The lower-level officers in your administration are eating up the funds collected. This is not done by Trinamool Congress party men. What are you doing? How are you running the administration in this district? "If this was done by one of my party members, I would have given him a tight slap. I am giving so much to the people, still, they need so much. Why have people grown so greedy these days?" Banerjee said.
During the meeting, a representative of Hura block alleged that the revenue collected from the brick kilns were not reaching the government.
He alleged that those employed to collect the revenue were siphoning it off.
"Earlier, I used to think that only politicians are thieves...they earn a bad name. But those involved in government work for the people must have goodwill. If someone has made a mistake, I suggest them to correct it," the chief minister said.
Banerjee, who is on an administrative tour to Purulia, also advised officers to lodge a police complaint if they believe that are being "framed".
The chief minister, who was addressing an administrative review meeting at Rabindra Bhavan here on Monday, hit out at the Purulia district administration for its lackadaisical attitude, delaying the completion of several projects as well as delivering services to the tribals here.
She directed the administration to immediately solve the problems.
Showing pictorial documents of projects that were yet to be started despite being commissioned long back, Banerjee said her office has been getting complaints from residents alleging work remains unfinished as middlemen were demanding money for completion.
"Ordinary citizens are not getting help when they go to the BLRO office. They are falling prey to the middlemen," she said.
Banerjee said time has come for a reshuffle of the BLRO Department.
"I see that a lot of projects are under process. What is this 'under process' thing? I want all work to be finished on time," she said.
She directed the district magistrate to clear all pending work within three months and if needed, hold a special 'Duare Sarkar' camp.
"I am not at all satisfied with the performance of the administration. I am extremely disappointed as land-related problems of tribals have not been addressed. I want the administration to solve these issues immediately. I want them to strengthen Bangla Sahayata Kendra (BSK) and make it more active and effective," Banerjee added.