Thaindian News

Kolkata, Sep 2 (IANS) Taking a swipe at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for setting up a “record” 10 inquiry commissions during her tenure so far, the CPI-M Sunday termed it a “waste of public money” at a time the state was passing through a financial crisis.

“The ma-mati-manush (mother-land-people - Banerjee’s slogan) government of Mamata Banerjee has set up 10 probe commissions in its first 10 months in office. This is a record. No other chief minister of this state and probably of any other state has shown such ability,” said an editorial in the Communist party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti.

The daily said Banerjee had formed the first commission within three weeks of coming to power last May to “unearth the mystery” behind CPI-M lawmaker Mostafa Bin Quasem’s unnatural death.

“The chief minister tried to use his unnatural death as a weapon against the CPI-M to besmirch its reputation. She was also unhappy with a police probe concluding that the MLA (legislator) had committed suicide. So she formed the commission.”

“But now the commission report also repeats the police version. Therefore the chief minister’s plan has flopped,” the editorial said.

The daily said of the 10 commissions, one has finished its job, five are working, and the remaining four are yet to start operating.

“The government has in fact failed to provide space for all these commissions. The spaces allocated have been found to be inadequate for these commissions. So they could not start functioning”.

The CPI-M said while such commissions were like white elephants, “it is a luxury to have so many of them together when the state was passing through a financial crisis. It is a waste of public money”.