Ensure you are on voter list to avoid detention under NRC norms, Mamata Banerjee tells people
Kolkata, Nov 23: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday urged the people of the state to ensure that their names feature on the electoral roll to avoid getting sent to detention camps under the garb of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) implementation.
She was addressing a programme organised by the state government to distribute land 'pattas' (deed) to marginalised families from all districts.
"There is an exercise underway to upgrade voter list. Ensure your name is there on the voters' list. If there is a mistake, your name might get omitted from the list and you could be sent to detention camps in the name of NRC implementation.
"Such instances have been noted in Assam. NRC is shame, shame and shame. There is a conspiracy being hatched. Do not waste time and enroll get your name on the voters' list," Banerjee said.
The CM, taking a dig at the BJP-led Centre, also wondered why people who had been exercising their franchise to elect the country's prime minister "need to give proof of citizenship".
Referring to incidents of "forcible takeover of land by railway and airport authorities" in the past, Banerjee said, "No eviction will be allowed in Bengal without proper compensation and rehabilitation."
She asked people to stage protests if their lands are forcibly taken and assured them that the state government will be there to lend support to the cause.
"Poor people cannot be forcibly evicted from a place. I have heard that people were being evicted from some areas for flyover and highway construction work. We will never allow such use of bulldozers. Do not give up so easily, lodge protests against these drives," Banerjee underlined.
"We have identified 300 refugee colonies in the state, and its residents will be given land pattas in due course of time," she stated.
The CM also said that beneficiaries need not furnish Aadhaar card to avail financial aid under her government's 'Lakshmir Bhandar' scheme.
Without taking any name, she claimed that letters were being sent to the Centre alleging that funds are being misuses in West Bengal.
"I feel ashamed to take names of those who are writing to the Centre asking it to create an economic blockade in West Bengal. They have alleged that central funds were being misused."
Lashing out at the Narendra Modi-led dispensation, she said the central government "runs on the instructions of the party (BJP)".
"The (central) government takes instructions from the party. If the party says that it's night, they (Centre) too nod in agreement," she added.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
