West Bengal government to curb smuggling: Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said her government will stress on curbing the menace of smuggling of cows, gold and opium.

"This time, I have decided that we (government) will stress on handling three things very sternly. They are cow smuggling, gold smuggling and opium smuggling. I will not tolerate any political or social interference in dealing with them," Banerjee said in the state assembly.

Replying to questions during discussions on the home department budget, she stressed on the need for modernization of police forces.

"The area of operations and work of the police force have increased. But the infrastructure to deal with it has not increased. Earlier, we used to get funds for the modernization of police forces. We had used that fund for setting up new police stations and police commissionartes. But now the Centre has stopped it. It is not possible for the state to bear the cost of the police modernization alone," Banerjee said.

She countered allegations against Kolkata police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and said he is one of the best IPS officers of the state.

Speaking about political violence in the state, she said "there should not be any political murder or violence. During election, a lot of our party cadres have been killed. No one from any political party should be killed. This political violence has to stop.

"There have been no incidents like Nandigram, Singur in the last five years after we came to power," she said.