Ahead of panchayat elections, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a host of schemes that essentially included her plans to provide medical insurance facilities to cine-television technicians and artistes and introducing Andhra Pradesh-type fisheries scheme.
This in addition to banning the online lottery “that has ruined thousands of families throughout the State since the left regime.”
Flanked by film director Gautam Ghosh and Finance Minister Amit Mitra, the Chief Minister who announced the health insurance scheme said, “There are many lesser technicians and artistes who find it very difficult to make the both ends meet particularly when they are out of job. So we have decided to provide them with some kind of medical insurance so that they can concentrate on their jobs more sincerely.”
Reminding the media that “we have also announced pension schemes for the journalists”, Banerjee said her Government was gradually taking care of all the fields that had been left untouched by the previous regimes.
“We had requested the Government to do something about the film technicians and I am grateful to the Chief Minister for taking this decision,” Ghosh said, adding the announcement would benefit a whole lot of television and cine artistes and technicians.
In what is being seen as the Chief Minister’s desperate attempt to revitalise the Trinamool Congress’ somewhat eroding vote base in the villages, she also announced a cluster of programmes including a large-scale fisheries scheme much along the lines of Andhra Pradesh.
“Why shall we have to import fishes from Andhra Pradesh when we can also construct a large reservoir like them here in BengalIJ” the Chief Minister asked insisting her Government had chalked out plans to build massive reservoirs in Bengal so that “tomorrow you will be able to buy fish for `100 a kilo instead of shelling out `200 or 300.”
The Chief Minister who said that her Government had already completed its target of digging 50,000 tanks said, “We had aimed at digging 50,000 ponds in five years but we have dug 52,000 in two years only” adding the new tanks would, apart from fishing, solve the water needs of the people.
Announcing the ban on the so-called “super lotto” online lotteries in the State “that has ruined thousands of families”, Banerjee said, “The online lotto system that was started during the left regime hitting the poorer families hard, has already stopped functioning anyway. But it was our plan to ban it officially and the notification will be out soon.”
The Government had already banned gutkha, she said.
Asking certain television channels to discontinue the shows on online lottery, Banerjee said, “I have no issue with the television staff but they have to keep the interests of the common man in the mind and stop hosting such programmes.”