Howrah: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reiterated on Monday that no project or recruitment in government ranks should be carried out without the consent of the Finance department and warned of strong legal action against anybody undertaking such procedure keeping the government in the dark. "There is a system in the government and everybody has to follow the same. Even I in my government do not carry out anything without the approval of the Finance department. If any college flouts norms and appoints teachers on their own or a civic body recruits persons without the nod of the Finance department, we will initiate strong action and may even start criminal proceedings," Banerjee said at the administrative review meeting held in Howrah Sarat Sadan. She instructed state Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim to check up with every single civic body in the state to ascertain whether they have been involved in such activities. The Chief Minister pulled up former Mayor of Howrah Municipal Corporation Rathin Chakraborty for recruitment in the HMC and taking up construction of a pumping station with underground reservoir without the nod of the Finance department. The construction work of the pumping station involving Rs 22 crore has been stalled due to lack of funds and the state Municipal Affairs department is now providing support to complete the project. HMC is presently under an administrator appointed by the state, with the former board led by Chakraborty ending its term. Chakraborty claimed that he had thought of completing the project with HMCs own fund but it was disrupted with the municipal board getting dissolved. "No urban local body in the state is financially independent and is dependent on state government funds. So all should follow normal financial rules," Chief Secretary Malay De said. Banerjee warned Chakraborty and all other concerned officials to abstain from similar practices in future. "You recruit people without proper approval and then the entire burden of paying them comes upon the government. The erstwhile Left Front government had recruited teachers in various categories with very low pay and we are now turning almost lunatic to tackle this problem," she added. Banerjee also expressed her displeasure over poor drinking water facilities, drainage facilities and improper hygiene at some places in Howrah. "I am coming here after visiting a slum located at 2 no Round Tank Lane. There are 400 people in the slum but the number of toilets is only 2. There is provision for work in slum development and funds are also being allocated, but still work is being delayed," Banerjee said, demanding an explanation from Bijin Krishna who has been appointed as administrator of HMC. She instructed Krishna to visit the slum and take action within a week and create facilities for at least 6 more toilets. According to Banerjee, some parts in both Howrah urban and rural areas have problems related to sanitation, sewerage, drinking water and solid waste management. "A task force will be constituted with the District Magistrate, local MLAs (including ministers) and other public representatives and government officials to address these issues with utmost priority and solve them in a time-bound matter," Banerjee said. Trinamool Congress MLA from Shibpur Jatu Lahiri pulled up the issue of people facing problems with ration cards in some areas of Howrah. "I am against any sort of harassment of people who have problems with their ration cards. Organise camps on a regular basis and use microphones to spread awareness among people so that they turn up at the camps and sort out their issues regarding ration cards," Banerjee instructed Manoj Agarwal, Principal Secretary of the state Food & Supplies department.

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