Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday urged villagers to cooperate with administration for a better standard of living.
She was addressing a meeting in connection with the first ever two-day state Panchayat conference at Netaji Indoor stadium on Friday afternoon.
She urged the villagers to take up beautification programme of their areas instead of depending heavily on administration. "You can take up schemes to beautify the areas and even carry out minor road repairs. Do not depend heavily on the people's representatives and administration. E-tender takes longer time and there is delay in getting money. So make beautification plans and implement that in your areas," she said adding: "If the roads are well maintained and fields are looked after properly, then the areas look beautiful."
Banerjee urged the people not to allow felling of trees. "Do not allow felling of trees and inform police and the people's representatives immediately," she said.
She said: "If there is a vision then mission becomes automatically successful." She added: "The villages are yours and so you should be proud of them and maintain them." She said the state government has set up passenger shelters in remote areas and asked the villagers to maintain them. "We make the infrastructure and for its maintenance, cooperation between the villagers and administration is required," she remarked.
Banerjee said when she had first introduced blue and white paints many people had criticised her. Also they criticised her when trident lamps were installed in the city. But after some time, the critics changed their views and began to praise her.
"When I first painted the government buildings in blue and white, people had criticised me. They had also criticised me when trident lamps were installed. But after some time they changed their views and started praising me. So do not get scared. Make beautification plans and we will help you financially," she said.