West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday promised mobile health units in the hills, forests and mining zones, setting up of a Sanskrit Board, winter clothing for students, and construction of more madrasas in its manifesto for the upcoming state assembly pols.The 146-page document, released by Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee during the day, pledged to set up an Industrial Investment Fund to promote and regulate industrialisation, and wi-fi connectivity across colleges and universities and a number of district towns.In health sector, the party also promised to open more specialist clinics at district government hospitals, and set up 11 more super-speciality hospitals.In the field of education, the party said it plans to incorporate the writings of great scholars, philosophers and thinkers of Bengal in the syllabi, distribute shoes to students from classes 5 to 8, introduce computers in every school, and make available texts pertaining to the curriculum in the internet.
Turning to the industrial sector, the manifesto said industries based on natural gas could be initiated with urgency once the state obtained a steady supply of natural gas.Extensive implementation of CNG driven transportation, a 'House for All', registration of the workings of the panchayats through the geo-tagging system and mobile networks, taking up of farmer welfare programmes, providing primary computer training to government-funded madrasa students and elevation of madrasas to higher secondary level were among the other pledges in the Trinamool manifesto.The manifesto was printed in five languages - Hindi, English, Bengali, Urdu and Santhali."We have lot of new programmes and plans which will complement the development initiatives taken since we came to power in 2011," said Banerjee.She said 80 percent of the infrastructural work undertaken by her government was complete.
"Since we are in government, we can't say anything we feel like. We have to be responsible."Banerjee claimed she has fulfilled all the promises made in her party's manifesto ahead of the 2011 assembly polls."The only exception is Singur, where our government came up with a bill to return land to those farmers from whom land had been forcibly taken by the erstwhile Left Front government", she said refering to the Tata Nano project, which had to be aborted following a sustained peasants agitiation led by her party in 2006-2008."But our bill was challenged by some people and the matter is still pending before the court. We are waiting for the court verdict. Till that time, we will continue to give foodgrains to the famrmers at Rs.2 per kilo."
Banerjee announced that her party would hold protest rallies in every block of the state on March 14, in remembrance of the martyrs who died in police firing at Nandigram of East Midnapore district in 2007.She herself will lead a rally in the north Bengal town of Siliguri.To a query from the media, Banerjee said though her government would highlight development work done during the Trinamool regime, the "unethical alliance" between the Congress and the Left Front will also be raised."Why should I spare people who are slandering us? We will reply to them. Do you want us to let their political campaign go unchallenged? I will say day in and day out that the alliance is unethical."