Rebel TMC MLAs meet Adhikari on SIR, loudspeaker in mosques
A section of the breakaway faction of TMC MLAs on Friday met Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari with a host of demands, including the complexities arising out of the deletion of 27 lakh names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and the Government order against using loudspeakers beyond a certain decibel in places of worship.
The representatives included Opposition Leader Ritabrata Banerjee, senior legislator Firhad Hakim, Chief Whip Akhruzzaman, MLAs Arup Roy, Sandeepan Saha, Javed Khan, Golam Rabbani, Sabina Yasmin and others.
Emerging from the meeting, the Opposition Leader said that the Chief Minister was told about the difficulties being faced by the people whose names had been deleted during SIR as the hearing was being conducted at a centralized location.
“We requested the Chief Minister to set up tribunals in every district, so that the people do not have to come all the way to Kolkata from far off places,” Banerjee said, adding how people often have to come from places as far as Cooch Behar in North Bengal.
“SIR-related deletion of names continues to be a big problem, particularly for the minority people whose names have been deleted in great numbers… so we brought this to the notice of the Chief Minister and he heard it patiently… there is a need for decentralized hearing and early settlement of the issue,” Chief Whip Akhruzzaman said.
The meeting took place at State secretariat Nabanna.
He said that out of the 27 lakh deleted names, about 10 lakh applications have been received “remaining 20 lakhs are completely in the dark and very anxious about their future of… if something is not done to address their problems then there will be larger agitations… we will have to move the High Court.”
According to a recent estimation, the sloth pace in which hearings are taking place it may take 20 years to get the entire dispute settled, one of the MLAs said.
The MLAs also raised the issue of a recent State Government order to remove loudspeakers beyond a certain decibel from religious places. “The people are confused … so we want a solution to this issue so that wrong message does not go to them,” Akhruzzaman said.
