Mukul Roy leads railway project rally

GOGHAT: After remaining dormant in Trinamool politics for a while, Mamata Banerjee's one-time man Friday Mukul Roy made a comeback, leading a huge rally on Tuesday at Goghat in support of the Tarakeswar-Bishnupur railway project.

Goghat has, in the recent past, witnessed violent resistance to the project by some fishermen owning a large chunk of an 18-acre fish farm at Bhabadighi.

Addressing the rally , Roy said: “I want to see work on the project start in three months. I urge those among you who have not accepted compensation cheques for acquisition of the fish farm to go and take them.You too will benefit from the project.“

He added: “If all those present here place a handful of mud into the pond, the water body will be filled up. This is a dream project of Mamata Banerjee who initiated the project as railway minister.“

Some fishermen with sta kes in part of the Bhabadighi fish farm have refused compensation cheques for acquisition of the pond. Delegations of the Left, Congress and BJP have visited Bhabadighi and campaigned in favour of those opposing forcible acquisition of the fish farm for the 82.5km railway line. A Left team led by CPM's Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyay and CPI's Bharati Mutsuddi was allegedly attacked by Trinamool men.

Earlier, Mamata had declared at a public meeting in Hooghly she would not tolerate opposition to the project. The CM had also declared the state would provide an alternative land where a fish farm could be dug up.

Taking on the opposition's stance on the project, Roy said, “The BJP is opposing this central project when it should be supporting it and cooperating in its execution.“

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BJP Hooghly district president Bhaskar Bhattacharya said, “Our state president Dilip Ghosh will visit Bhabadighi soon. We will not allow the fish farm to be filled against the wishes of poor fishermen of Bhabadighi.“