Favourite Scams in West Bengal

It has been a scam bonanza in West Bengal under Mamata Banerjee and TMC. Corruption is so rife that people seem to have accepted it as a way of life. 

 

1. Saradha Scam : The Ponzi scheme ruined 1.7 million investors. Sudipto Sen has confirmed to the investigating agency about his links to the TMC and the related payoffs. Sudipto Sen had named TMC MPs like Srinjay Basu and Kunal Ghosh in his letter to the CBI. Both the MPs are under arrest. Yesterday Madan Mitra was also arrested in connection with the scam.

 

2. Port Scam : The alleged scam has resulted in the loss of several thousand crores to the state exchequer, as private agents were employed to handle onshore operations by the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), Haldia Dock Complex in West Bengal and 10 other ports in the country without any tender, in which Ripley & Co was also involved. MP Srinjay Bose, a director of Ripley & Co, is also being investigated for involvement in the port scam as well by the CBI.

 

3. Sale of Painting Scam : CBI is also investigating the purchase of Mamata Banerjee's paintings by Sudipto Sen for Rs. 1.8 crores. Similarly, a lot of her paintings have sold at exorbitant prices and the sale proceeds have gone benefit the Chief Minister directly.

 

4. Doles to Muslims : There is no end to the money flowing into the Muslim population in a state that is reeling under fund shortage for development works. From stipends to Mullahs to funding illegal madrasas, there is no limit to what is being funded by Mamata Banerjee.

 

5. Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority Scam : The scam happened in Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority when Malda DM Kiran Kumar was its chief executive officer. He is being probed in eight cases involving siphoning of funds meant for projects that were executed only on paper. The TMC government and its North Bengal Development department were reported to be directly involved in the defrauding a huge money from the autonomous SJDA.The Chief Secretary expressed his dissent over the interrogation of Malda DM. The Siliguri Commissioner K. Jayaraman was summoned to Nabanna and given compulsory waiting award and removed from his post. In the end it became a showdown of IAS vs IPS. 

6. Trident Scam by Kolkata Municipal Corporation : Well, we all live with  the ugly trident lights all over the city. Kolkata did not become London, but sure became poorer as crores of rupees went missing from the government over the funding for these ridiculous lights. Municipal commissioner Khalil Ahmed saw no merit in the reports!

7. Bill Board Scam by Kolkata Municipal Corporation : Rs 16.52 crore have been deleted from the department records to give mileage to some billboard agencies. It was done to make sure that they could participate in a fresh tender for obtaining advertising rights in Kolkata and its suburbs. To make the matter worse, the KMC advertisement department did not seek any approval from the finance department. The municipal commissioner, Khalil Ahmed, however, signed on the proposal sent by the advertisement department.

8. Primary TET Scam : In another shocking scam, millions of primary teacher aspirants were deceived in West Bengal when it was exposed that most of the ‘successful’ candidates were recommended by ruling party leaders. In fact, candidates were recruited like party volunteers with all norms and decency abandoned. It has been admitted by South 24 Parganas District Primary Council chief that the list has been scrutinised and recommended by TMC leaders Mukul Roy, Partha Chatterjee and Madan Mitra. These recruitments have been done in exchange of huge bribes, paid to ruling party leaders.