KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday assured footpath dweller Sita Devi alias Rashida, who was admonished by minister Agnimitra Paul on Saturday for boiling milk for her child on Park Street, that she and her family would be provided with a home.
Sita Devi, along with her toddler, was brought to the Chief Minister’s Janata Durbar at Salt Lake seeking rehabilitation. Adhikari assured her that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation would arrange a home for them.
“She said she had faith in the Chief Minister and the BJP,” Adhikari told the media. “I told her the KMC will make arrangements for her to stay. She should not live on the pavement. Roads and pavements are not meant for living,” he said.
The chief minister clarified that Sita Devi did not complain against Paul or anyone else.
He also attacked his predecessor, Mamata Banerjee, alleging that she had sent someone to Sita Devi and offered her money to make statements against the BJP. He said Sita Devi told him she had faith in the CM and the BJP. He alleged that the Left, during its 35-year rule, and the Trinamool Congress, during its 15-year rule in the state, never took care of people like Sita Devi.
On Monday, Banerjee offered to help Sita Devi and her family, prompting Adhikari to question why she could not accommodate the woman herself instead of asking party workers to provide shelter.
On Saturday, Paul had admonished Sita Devi for boiling milk on a stove on the Park Street pavement. The minister instructed the police to remove the pot, stove and belongings.
The CPI-M, Congress and Trinamool Congress criticised Paul’s attitude. Despite the criticism, Paul said Kolkata residents had voted for the BJP to keep the city clean, arguing that investors would not come to Bengal without a clean
Kolkata. On Monday, Paul released a Facebook saying the government was in talks with chambers of commerce about slum development and rehabilitation programmes.
