LF questions removal of foundation stone laid by President

Ruling Left Front in West Bengal today took strong execption to the removal of the foundation stone laid by President Pratibha Patil at Joka in South 24 Parganas district for a Metro Rail project.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose demanded to know why the foundation stone was removed, who the land belonged to and under which laws it was acquired.

"We want all these questions answered," he told reporters.

The stone was removed by metro officials just days after it was laid by the President on September 22.

However, metro officials said the foundation stone was removed to as they wanted to preserve and protect it from any damage and once the metro station is built at Joka the stone would be placed again.

They added that the land where the metro station would come up belonged to the Bratachari Samity which has agreed to hand it over to the metro and land acquisition process is still on and would be completed soon.

Meanwhile, referring to the issue of corruption, Bose said that the Left Front has announced a fortnight-long movement on scams including the 2G spectrum allocation and a close watch would be kept on whether UPA ally Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee commented on them.

"We have not heard as yet anything against the scams. Let us see which way the water flows," he said in reply to a question.

"Large-scale corruption cases and scandals including the 2G spectrum allocation involving Rs 1.76 lakh crore have occurred which has lowered the country's image and also affected development work," he said.

The large amount of money involved could have been used for strengthening public distribution system, welfare schemes and people working in the unorganised sector, he said.