BARASAT: Cattle smuggling through the bordering districts of Basirhat and Bongaon in West Bengal has turned out to be a bother for chief minister Mamata Banerjee .

The CM gave a piece of her mind at an administrative meeting in North 24 Parganas on Tuesday, asking district officials to beef up surveillance along the Indo-Bangla border to get the rid of the “cow smuggling” stigma in this “vulnerable” district.

The CM didn’t miss the opportunity to point out that truckloads of cattle coming from BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are being routed through this district.

“I would ask the DM, SPs, BDOs and all bordering police stations to increase vigilance. These cattle are coming from UP and Rajasthan. Their governments are not taking initiatives to stop the trade. The entire blame is on us. I don’t want to take the blame any more,” she said.

Aware that many youths in the district are involved in the trade, Banerjee suggested alternative occupations for the unemployed youth. “Basirhat is known for mouth-watering sweets and local fish. The place is ideal for setting up mishti hubs and sweetwater fish bheris. Basirhat can supply both items to other parts of the country and export them abroad. We don’t have to import fish from Andhra Pradesh then.”

North 24 Parganas DM Antara Acharya came under fire from the CM over the inordinate delay in setting up a design hub at Mangal Pandey ghat in Barrackpore Cantt area. The CM lost her cool when a district official tried to argue that the file had to gone to various departments and was ready now. “A government is elected for five years. You took four years to process a file. When will we come out of red tape?” she said, setting a one-month deadline for the project. “Why are you making all and sundry a multi-department project?”

Mamata didn’t spare Trinamool MLA from Deganga, Rahima Mandal, over the controversy in the control of vector-borne diseases in this part of the district. “How could panchayat officials sprinkle atta in lieu of bleaching powder? Why didn’t you oversee the programme?”

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The MLA mumbled that it was a CPM-dominated panchayat and the villagers chased away the officials. “You are trying to pass the buck. Vector-borne diseases spread out from Dum Dum, Deganga in this district,” the CM said. She then turned to the North 24 Parganas DM and took stock of the programme.

