Malda: A TMC leader and close aid of West Bengal's former food minister Jyotipriya Mallick, who is now in jail for ration corruption, has been suspended and slapped with a fine of about Rs 8 crore for his role in anomalies related to ration goods supply. The suspension left the ruling party embarrassed as the increasing numbers of partymens' names are being cropped up in the ration scam in the state.
The District Trinamool president, however, made it clear that the party won't take side of anyone involved in corruption. The accused Asraful Islam, who is a resident of Borabaddha village near the Indo-Bangla border in Sahabanchak village panchayat of Kaliachak 3rd block, is also the president of Sahabanchak region unit of Trinamool Congress.
Sources said District Food Department has found evidence of corruption against him. Asraful's palacial house remains locked after evidence of corruption was found against him and his phone is also switched off. Even the villagers do not know where has he fled with his family.
A couple of months ago, Dukhu Sheikh, a resident of Sahabanchak area, filed a written complaint against Asraful to the Food and Crime Prevention Department.
In this regard, Malda district food controller Shaswata Sundar Das said, "A ration dealer named Asraful Islam in Sahabanchak Village Panchayat area of Kaliachak block 3 has been fined a large amount after he was found to the guilty of corruption. He committed multiple frauds from 2015 to 2022. His dealership license has also been suspended.”
The involvement of Asraful, who is a leader of TMC embarrassed the party. The district president of TMC Abdur Rahim Baksi said, "The Chief Minister himself has instructed the police and the administration to take strict action against those involved in corruption without looking at any political colour. The administration has taken action against the ration dealer of Kaliachak after gathering evidence of corruption against him. Trinamool never condones corrupt people. The law will follow its own course. Action will also be taken against the person at the party level.”
In that complaint, he said that Asraful is not giving them ration items according to government rules. Even if a large quantity of ration material arrived at his warehouse, those items would disappear overnight. Later, villagers came to know that Asraful sold the goods allotted to them in the black market.
Based on Duchu Sheikh's complaint, the Food Department started an investigation against Asraful. The officials found rampant irregularitiers done by Asraful from 2015 to 2022. Apart from selling consumer goods in the black market, he also created fake ration cards worth a couple of thousand and collected his goods from government houses.
According to locals, through unfair means, the ration dealer amassed several crores of rupees in seven years. Hakeem Mian, another resident of Sahabanchak area, wrote a letter to the Food Department under the Right to Information Act a month ago, asking to know how far the Food Department's investigation has progressed based on Duchu Sheikh's complaint.
In view of that letter, he was informed by the office that after the investigation found evidence of Asraful's misdeeds, he was fined Rs 7,85,61, 044 and his dealership has also been suspended. Asraful Islam has approached Calcutta High Court against the order. Currently, the matter is pending before the court.
