Kolkata, Jan 21 : Notwithstanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's denial of reports of farmers' suicide, ally Congress today demanded that an all-party team of MLAs be sent to ascertain the cause of the death of peasants, especially in Burdwan district, the rice bowl of Bengal.
"I feel it is unfortunate that information has come to us about the death of 24 farmers. The government should set up a committee comprising legislators from all political parties to ascertain the cause of the death of farmers in several districts including in Burdwan," WBPCC chief Pradip Bhattacherjee told reporters.
Bhattacherjee claimed that officers were giving "cooked up" reports to the Chief Minister on farmers' suicides.
He, however, refused to comment on whether he was trying to give a clean chit to Banerjee on the issue by criticising the officers for not "properly presenting facts to her", saying "it is a system that officers give reports to the chief minister".
"The Chief Minister should come out of this system and should herself enquire to find out the truth instead of depending on the reports being given to her by her officers", Bhattacherjee said.
He said officers were dishing out reports to Banerjee claiming that farmers have committed suicide driven by depression and failure to meet the loans taken by them. "What is the harm in acknowledging fact that they have committed suicide by not getting proper support price of paddy," he said, adding that it was high time the Chief Minister should conduct a proper enquiry involving legislators of all the parties.Bhattacherjee's demand came following the recent spat between the two allies after the state Congress organised street protests on issues like renaming of the Indira Bhawan and paddy procurement prices which prompted the Chief Minister to dare the Congress to break the alliance in the state.
The Trinamool Congress and Congress share power in West Bengal, although the Trinamool, with 185 legislators, is not dependent on the Congress to run the government.
Bhattacherjee said "the Congress has decided to hold an inquiry into the matter independently and I have asked our partymen to visit the victims' houses to ascertain the cause behind the deaths".
He also urged the state government to extend financial assistance to the victims' families. At a party rally here on January 19, Banerjee denied reports about farmers' suicide in the state even as the Opposition CPI(M) held the Trinamool Congress-led government responsible.
"Twelve persons died due to some disease and they were not connected to farming, while reports said that some others took heavy loans from banks for personal purposes," Banerjee had told a Panchayati Raj Sammelan at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.