Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who visited the Food Department headquarters in Kolkata on Wednesday, said essential items were not reaching the poor and threatened to sack the officers responsible for it.
"Those from whom food is not reaching the people must be sacked," Mamata told the department's officers when they informed her that items meant for PDS were not reaching the beneficiaries because of a section of Food Department staff and some businessmen.
Describing the food department as one 'without a father and a mother,' she said "nothing is monitored here. Funds are being spent on food items but it is not reaching the common people. This cannot be allowed to continue."
Warning the officers that they would be monitored, she said, however, that the government would not victimise anyone. "We will all have to work together."
Mamata advised Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick to set up a monitoring committee with one representative from each of the 12 employees unions functioning at Khadya Bhavan. The committee would ensure proper functioning of the department so that essential food items reached the beneficiaries, especially those below the poverty line.
She also directed the department's officials to set up a complaint box to be opened every three days. "All the complaints, however small, must be attended to."
It has been decided that Mullick would meet the Khadya Bhavan staff once a week to ensure its proper functioning.
Mamata, who visited three floors of Khadya Bhavan, was annoyed to see dusty files strewn all over.
"Is there no monitoring? Is this how you run a department? This is the reason why so many people go without food (in the state)," she said.
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