West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday assured farmer leaders led by Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh of support to their agitation against the new agriculture laws. At a meeting with the farmer leaders here during the day, the TMC chief said that there should be a platform where states could converse on policy issues. Bulldozing states is not good for the federal structure, she said. Banerjee s support for the north India-based farmers unions comes within days of the Trinamool Congress announcing that the party would spread its footprints outside West Bengal s geographical boundaries. The Bhartiya Kisan Union led by Tikait and Singh had supported the No vote for BJP campaign ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections and have plans to extend that in other upcoming state elections as well.
Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that as the number of active Covid-19 cases has come down in the state, her government relaxed a few restrictions allowing opening of retail shops including bookstalls from noon to 3 pm and construction activities after vaccinating workers. Banerjee said that operations in the Information Technology and ITES sector shall also be allowed with 10 per cent of total strength to enable backend and maintenance works between noon and 3 pm. Construction activities and operations in industries and manufacturing units will be allowed with onsite staff after workers are vaccinated for Covid-19. Employers shall give a prior intimation to the district magistrates concerned regarding the compliance on vaccination status of the staff and workers, she said reading out an order.
Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the state has incurred a total loss of more than Rs 20,000 crore due to Cyclone Yaas which battered the state last week and around 2.21 lakh hectare of crops were damaged. The chief minister said that the state has opened around 1200 relief camps in which 2 lakh odd people have taken shelter following the cyclone which made landfall in neighbouring Odisha on May 26. Around 2.21 lakh hectare of crops and 71,560 hectare of horticulture have been damaged in West Bengal by Cyclone Yaas. The state has incurred a total loss of more than Rs 20,000 crore, she told reporters at the secretariat.
Read more about Bengal chief secy retired, to act as chief advisor to CM: Mamata Banerjee on Business Standard. The Centre has asked him to join North Block on Tuesday but it cannot force an officer to join it without the permission of the state administration, Banerjee told a press conference
Read more about CM Mamata conducts aerial survey of cyclone-hit areas in West Bengal on Business Standard. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday conducted an aerial survey of cyclone-hit areas in North 24 Parganas district, officials said