KOLKATA: A controversial deal between Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Ltd (IRCTC) and Saradha Tours and Travels has stirred up a hornet's nest in Bengal politics on the eve of two crucial assembly bypolls on September 13.
The deal was signed during Mamata Banerjee's tenure as railway minister. It was part of Bharat Tirth project that Mamata announced in her railway budget for 2010-11.
The deal has come handy to Opposition parties that have gone to town with it to tear into Mamata's 'satatar pratik' (symbol of honesty) image. Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury has even demanded that Mamata resign and face an inquiry. "The deal points to the direct involvement of the then railway minister. She should step down from the CM's post and face the inquiry. She may resume office only if she comes out clean," Adhir said on Thursday.
The Pradesh Congress chief may have stepped over a line, but his offensive is not without reason. The Congress leader draws his strength from the defensive statement of Mamata's lieutenant and former railway minister Mukul Roy, who was more interested in clearing himself than defending his leader.
"It (the deal) didn't happen during my tenure. Authorities like CAG will look into it," Roy, the Trinamool national secretary, had said. Sensing that his statement did more damage to his party than good for himself, Roy went back on his statement and claimed he was quoted out of context.
Roy's flip-flop apart, it's a fact that there has been no solid backing of Mamata from the Trinamool camp as yet. Calcutta high court lawyer and Congress leader Arunava Ghosh raised some pertinent questions on the deal. "I am not saying that the deal should be seen as proceeds of the Saradha crime. But the railways has to explain why tours under the project were awarded to Saradha without floating any tender. And this, when Saradha Tours didn't have the required five-year experience," he said.
The Opposition says the railway expose has hit the bull's eye in the Saradha probe. It points to the Trinamool chief's giving favour to the Saradha Group that had donated ambulances and motorbikes to the Mamata government for Jangalmahal. The deal has surfaced a year after Mamata took the high moral ground after the Saradha bubble burst.
"Kunal chor, Tumpai (Srinjoy Bose) chor, Mukul chor, ami chor, aar apnara sobai sadhu? If they are thieves, you (CPM) are not innocent either," Mamata had said, trying to drag CPM into the muck that her party was in. A year down the line, Kunal Ghosh is in custody, Srinjoy has been questioned by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), and ministers Madan Mitra and Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, and MPs Arpita Ghosh and Ahmad Hassan Imran are under CBI scanner.
CBI has also raided the house of Trinamool leaders Rajat Majumdar and Asif Khan in connection with the Saradha scam. Investigators have summoned state textiles minister Shyamaprasad Mukherjee as a suspected beneficiary of the proceeds of crime. Documents with law enforcement agencies indicate that the minister sold as much as 7 acres of government land to Saradha boss Sudipta Sen during the sale of his cement factory at Bankura at an exorbitant price. This is not all. The Saradha group had acquired 171 acres of prime land in the state, raising eyebrows in industry circles because it was something that even big industry houses couldn't.
The proceeds of the ill-gotten money went to various individuals and Bhowanipore football clubs apart from the media and entertainment sector. CBI is now interrogating East Bengal Club official Debabrata Sarkar alias Nitu who has allegedly taken crores from Sen by promising him to "manage Sebi and RBI".
Enforcement directorate has found documents showing Saradha money transferred from a Goa bank's Panjim branch to the account of a Mohun Bagan Club footballer's daughter. Saradha money also went to many football clubs through a Trinamool leader.
Caught in the Saradha muddle, the Trinamool chief did what she has been doing against her adversaries. Mamata stepped up the ante against the Centre at a public gathering a few days ago. "If you spread canards, remember we are not dead ... We do not need money and multi-crore advertising to win elections," Mamata had said at the meeting. Soon after this, she told a private television channel that she was not averse to an alliance with the Left to keep BJP at bay. Whatever her aim, the message didn't go down well in her own party that is facing a tough battle in Basirhat South assembly segment where BJP was ahead by 30,000 votes in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
IRCTC issued a statement on Thursday, saying Saradha Tours & Travels was never a service provider and got no special privileges.
The deal was signed during Mamata Banerjee's tenure as railway minister. It was part of Bharat Tirth project that Mamata announced in her railway budget for 2010-11.
The deal has come handy to Opposition parties that have gone to town with it to tear into Mamata's 'satatar pratik' (symbol of honesty) image. Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury has even demanded that Mamata resign and face an inquiry. "The deal points to the direct involvement of the then railway minister. She should step down from the CM's post and face the inquiry. She may resume office only if she comes out clean," Adhir said on Thursday.
The Pradesh Congress chief may have stepped over a line, but his offensive is not without reason. The Congress leader draws his strength from the defensive statement of Mamata's lieutenant and former railway minister Mukul Roy, who was more interested in clearing himself than defending his leader.
"It (the deal) didn't happen during my tenure. Authorities like CAG will look into it," Roy, the Trinamool national secretary, had said. Sensing that his statement did more damage to his party than good for himself, Roy went back on his statement and claimed he was quoted out of context.
Roy's flip-flop apart, it's a fact that there has been no solid backing of Mamata from the Trinamool camp as yet. Calcutta high court lawyer and Congress leader Arunava Ghosh raised some pertinent questions on the deal. "I am not saying that the deal should be seen as proceeds of the Saradha crime. But the railways has to explain why tours under the project were awarded to Saradha without floating any tender. And this, when Saradha Tours didn't have the required five-year experience," he said.
The Opposition says the railway expose has hit the bull's eye in the Saradha probe. It points to the Trinamool chief's giving favour to the Saradha Group that had donated ambulances and motorbikes to the Mamata government for Jangalmahal. The deal has surfaced a year after Mamata took the high moral ground after the Saradha bubble burst.
"Kunal chor, Tumpai (Srinjoy Bose) chor, Mukul chor, ami chor, aar apnara sobai sadhu? If they are thieves, you (CPM) are not innocent either," Mamata had said, trying to drag CPM into the muck that her party was in. A year down the line, Kunal Ghosh is in custody, Srinjoy has been questioned by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), and ministers Madan Mitra and Shyamaprasad Mukherjee, and MPs Arpita Ghosh and Ahmad Hassan Imran are under CBI scanner.
CBI has also raided the house of Trinamool leaders Rajat Majumdar and Asif Khan in connection with the Saradha scam. Investigators have summoned state textiles minister Shyamaprasad Mukherjee as a suspected beneficiary of the proceeds of crime. Documents with law enforcement agencies indicate that the minister sold as much as 7 acres of government land to Saradha boss Sudipta Sen during the sale of his cement factory at Bankura at an exorbitant price. This is not all. The Saradha group had acquired 171 acres of prime land in the state, raising eyebrows in industry circles because it was something that even big industry houses couldn't.
The proceeds of the ill-gotten money went to various individuals and Bhowanipore football clubs apart from the media and entertainment sector. CBI is now interrogating East Bengal Club official Debabrata Sarkar alias Nitu who has allegedly taken crores from Sen by promising him to "manage Sebi and RBI".
Enforcement directorate has found documents showing Saradha money transferred from a Goa bank's Panjim branch to the account of a Mohun Bagan Club footballer's daughter. Saradha money also went to many football clubs through a Trinamool leader.
Caught in the Saradha muddle, the Trinamool chief did what she has been doing against her adversaries. Mamata stepped up the ante against the Centre at a public gathering a few days ago. "If you spread canards, remember we are not dead ... We do not need money and multi-crore advertising to win elections," Mamata had said at the meeting. Soon after this, she told a private television channel that she was not averse to an alliance with the Left to keep BJP at bay. Whatever her aim, the message didn't go down well in her own party that is facing a tough battle in Basirhat South assembly segment where BJP was ahead by 30,000 votes in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
IRCTC issued a statement on Thursday, saying Saradha Tours & Travels was never a service provider and got no special privileges.
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TMC - which actually stands for Terror!sts, Murderer$ and Cr!minals and the mentally retarded leader of this ev!l TMC party M@mataZ B@gum (schizophren!a pat!ent) is power hungry, extremely shameless, vic!ous and a dirty vote bank politic!an. She is not only !nsolent (rude and disrespectful to others), she is a b!g time cr!minal, number one r0gue, a hardc0re cr!minal and 100% corrupt. B@gum is mentally sick, po!sonous and pure ev!l. She has looted hundreds of Crores of Rupees most of which are poor people’s money from the Saradha Ponzi Scam along with the rogue Sud!pta Sen who is like Bernie Madoff of the US and the biggest fraud ever. Mamat@ along with her gang of cr!minals, rap!sts, rogues, thugs, killers, murderers and extort!onists kept terroriz!ng the people of WEST BENGAL and turned it into a WASTE BIN in 3 years time with her endless corruption and rampant lootings (CPM – the commun!st dev!ls also did that before her and they took 34 years to do the same). M@mataz and her professional crim!nal friends and rogue supporters have made West Bengal like a miserable living hell on earth. People are living in fear in West Bengal and they are always afraid of losing their precious lives. All are suffering tremendously and nobody is safe in that state including the rogue leader herself and all her hired criminals and rogue supporters (majority of them had only changed their jersey from CPM dev!l to TCM ev!l). They always have to be on the lookout for their opponent gang from the same TMC (Terror!sts, Murderer$ and Crim!nals) party as the TMC supporters are also fighting among themselves and killing each other’s often to control the local syndicates and all are engaged in collecting money (demanding, forcing and robbing people) every day! TMC is “shining brightly” in terms of terror!sm, rap@s, murder$, kill!ngs, robber!es and all other kinds of crimes and evils acts by TMC! We wonder how the people can allow these terror!sm, anarchy, dictatorship and misrule to continue uninterrupted in a democratic country and civilized society (at least that’s what on paper)! It is time to impose the president rule in West Bengal ASAP before it is too late! It seems that only the Divine Force, the Army or the Maobad!'s can save West Bengal from the hands of that ev!l M@mata and her cr!minal gang of evils, rogues, rap!sts, thugs and murderer$ or else, West Bengal will be completely ruined and they are heading towards that inevitable truth!
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Su (Unknown)9 hrs ago
She used “Dr.” before her name on 1985 LS poll. She stopped using “Dr.” after news broke out as fake. Remember, Champola Sardar case just before Gram Panchayat (Rural Body) Election, while TMC was political partner of Vajpayee govt in central and the rape allegation was also fake as per forensic study by central govt. She was silent after forensic report published to till day.
Every day new names comes for involvement in Saradah scam, most names from her TMC party including MP, MLA, Ministers, etc. Till recent past, some Bengali media, TMC leader, some intellectual, actually a team of racket projected her “Satatar Pratik' (symbol of honesty). Bengal is suffering today because this racket influence of vote bank. These are few examples only how she behaved as opposition and this is an excellent samples how a team of liar influence a whole society.
Surprising, no name comes under CBI scanner from CPM/Left MP, MLA, Ex Minister’s, etc till now, even though Left ruled Bengal 34 years. TMC ruled 3 years only now.
What will happen if they rule 5 years? It is beyond thought of scenario if they rule 34 years?
Sorry to say, the selection of this Volcano is actually a Bengal’s degradation of intellectual quality.
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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. SARADHA CHIT FUND IS REALLY A BENAMI BUSINESS OF TMC FROM 2009 ONWARDS. THE BUSINESS MODE WAS THAT SARADHA WILL COLLECT THE DEPOSIT SHOWING STATE AND RAILWAY SUPPORTED SCHEME AND DEPOSIT SO COLLECTED USED TO BE SPENT AS PER INSTRUCTION OF TMC. MUKUL AND MADAN SHOULD BE ARRESTED FIRST TO CONFIRM THE SERIES OF DEVELOPMENTS
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IRCTC issued a statement on Thursday, saying Saradha Tours & Travels was never a service provider and got no special privileges".........if you look at this comment, you can image how stupids people are inside to save culprits & corrupted politicians in India. As per eligibility, the company should be of 5 years old to get the contract with IRCTC, but Sharada's Tour & Travel was not existed for 5 years, it was just 3 years upto that time...then how can you say like that????????????????
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Mamata is another state leader after Akhilesh whose government is continuing because of the GOONs employed by the party to keep the public in control. She is even worse than the previous CPI(M) government. She should be prosecuted for the Sharadha Chit Fund scam which has happened right under her nose and she should be made to take accountability of it.
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