‘Planned by Congress’: Bengal minister on arson at ration dealer’s home

The villagers alleged that they were getting much less rice than what the government had promised.

Hundreds of villagers dragged out furniture from a ration dealer’s house and set those on fire outside the house in the Salar area of Bengal’s Murshidabad on Saturday morning, alleging irregularities in disbursement of free ration.

Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the process of suspending the ration dealer had started and he has been detained by the police. (HT Photo)

Indranil Mahanto, officer-in-charge of Salar police station, rushed to Punisha village as tensions simmered. Ration dealer Halim Sheikh’s house was ransacked in the incident.

The villagers alleged that they were getting much less rice than what the government had promised.

Later, senior officers from the district administration also went there to restore order. They assured the villagers that action would be taken against Sheikh.

Rahim Sheikh, a villager, said, “Taken together, all members of my family are entitled to get 17.5 kg flour and 35 kg rice a month but the dealer gave us only 3 kg rice and 7 kg flour. He is hoarding rations meant for poor people.”

The villagers also alleged that Sheikh was giving them poor quality ration. Two days ago they staged an agitation.

The agitation started again on Saturday outside Sheikh’s house.

“Till Saturday action has been taken against 263 ration dealers in Bengal and many of them have been suspended. However it is the opposition that is instigating people to reap political benefit during this crisis. The arson at Salar in Murshidabad was planned by the Congress,” said state food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick.

Bharatpur-II community block development officer Paritosh Majumder refused to comment on the incident. Other officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the process of suspending the ration dealer had started and he has been detained by the police.

Congress legislator from Bharatpur (the village is part of the constituency) Kamalesh Chatterjee said, “People in this village were not getting adequate ration for a long time. They kept quiet fearing reprisal from local Trinamool Congress leaders. They flared up on Saturday.”

In a similar incident, hundreds of villagers on Saturday staged agitation outside the local ration dealer’s home at Jashoitala village in the Lalgola police station area of Murshidabad. They alleged that Manowara Bibi and her husband Rabiul Hasan, the ration dealer, are giving poor quality food grain to villagers.

“The ration dealer is giving very poor quality rice and that too in less quantity. He is also selling kerosene at a higher price,” said Abdus Samad, a villager.

Officers from Lalgola police station reached the village and brought the situation under control.