No development in Jangalmahal area under TMC govt, claims BJP

The TMC came to power in the state in 2011, ousting the Left Front. The Mamata Banerjee government has "deprived the citizens of Bankura even from receiving basic facilities like drinking water and sanitization when it is being given free of cost across the country," the party said.

The BJP's West Bengal unit on Monday claimed that the Trinamool Congress government has deprived the children of Jangalmahal of a bright future by denying them affordable access to quality education and there was "complete lack of development" in the area. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is currently on a visit to Bankura district which is part of Jangalmahal.

"As per DISE (District Information System for Education) report 2017-18, about 80 per cent of secondary schools and 88 per cent higher secondary schools in the Jangalmahal region don't even have basic facilities like desks for all students," the BJP said in a press release. The tribal Jangalmahal area comprising West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram districts had witnessed Maoist insurgency from 2008 to 2012. The TMC came to power in the state in 2011, ousting the Left Front.

The Mamata Banerjee government has "deprived the citizens of Bankura even from receiving basic facilities like drinking water and sanitization when it is being given free of cost across the country," the party said. Out of 4,797 water resources in Bankura district, around 1,700 are contaminated, it alleged.

"Due to the TMC's anti-farmer policies, as per agricultural census, 2015, only about 47 per cent of total agricultural land in Bankura has access to irrigation facilities," it said. The opposition party also alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government has deprived the farmers of West Bengal of receiving Rs 6,000 crore under the central government's PM Kisan yojana.

The BJP alleged that at a time when Bankura is battling lack of development, "rampant corruption" and Covid- 19, "state-sponsored political violence" is being used as a tool to curb any voice of dissent..