4923 - Left sings Mamata tune on Aadhaar - The Telegraph

Left sings Mamata tune on Aadhaar

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta, Nov. 4: The Left Front today said not possessing Aadhaar cards could not be a ground for denying subsidy on LPG to domestic consumers, a stand Mamata Banerjee has taken. Realising that the chief minister had beaten them again in taking up an issue that will affect the common man, the Left Front today decided to protest the UPA II government’s move. After a meeting at Alimuddin Street this afternoon, CPM state secretary and Front chairman Biman Bose said: “It seems that the issuance of Aadhaar cards is enveloped in aandhaar (darkness). The Centre should throw light on this. The Left Front is strongly protesting the Centre’s move to link the Aadhaar card to the availability of subsidy on domestic LPG. In no way can the Centre deny such benefits to the consumers.” The Supreme Court has ruled that the Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory for getting subsidy. Mamata’s outburst against the Centre came on Friday, the day the Aadhaar-linked direct benefit transfer scheme on domestic LPG came into effect in Calcutta, Howrah and Cooch Behar. Sources said the chief minister was unhappy because the majority of the people in Bengal was yet to get Aadhaar cards. Those who have got the cards are yet to get their bank accounts linked with them. Bose today wondered what would happen to those who did not have bank accounts and so wouldn’t be eligible for central subsidy. “The Centre should clarify all these,” he said.