Darjeeling/Kolkata | West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Sunday said he will meet those deprived of MGNREGA work as the Centre has stopped funds under the scheme to the state, and take up their grievances with New Delhi.
Reacting to the TMC's comments on the ongoing agitation outside Raj Bhavan, the governor also related an allegorical tale to reporters in Darjeeling about a 'Lion Prince' who was punished by an elephant in the forest for asking who was the king of the jungle.
Bose, who will return to Kolkata from Darjeeling, where he has gone to visit the flood situation in north Bengal, also wrote to Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi, inquiring whether permission was granted for the TMC's ongoing sit-in demonstration outside Raj Bhavan, a source at the governor house said.
"I will speak with the deprived. I will hear complaints directly from them. After that, I will talk not only to the Centre but also all parties involved," Bose told reporters at Kalimpong.
Incidentally, a three-member TMC delegation on Saturday called on Bose in Darjeeling, where they presented demands regarding the clearance of the state's financial dues under the scheme.
Soon after meeting them, Bose said that he would be taking up the matter of MGNREGA dues of the state with the Centre.
The West Bengal governor on Sunday morning went to Teesta Bazaar area in Kalimpong to take stock of the flood situation, and he will be returning to Kolkata by Sunday evening, the Raj Bhavan source said.
There was, however, no confirmation on whether he would be meeting TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee after returning to the city.
"The governor wrote to the chief secretary wanting to know whether proper permission was given to the TMC to hold the sit-in demonstration outside the Raj Bhavan. He also asked the chief secretary where there was any breach of the law in giving permission to the ruling party in the state to hold the protest outside his residence where Section 144 of CrPC is supposed to be imposed till 150 metres from the Raj Bhavan's boundary," the source told PTI.
The indefinite sit-in demonstration outside Raj Bhavan by TMC activists led by senior leader Abhishek Banerjee entered the fourth day on Sunday with agitators asserting their stir will continue till Bose meets them at the protest site.
The Ministry of Rural Development stated on October 5 that the release of funds for West Bengal was stopped from March 9, 2022, in accordance with Section 27 of MGNREGA because of the state's non-compliance with directives of the central government.