Clear dues of Bengal: About 4K to 5K deprived jobcard holders leave for TMC’s Delhi protest

Kolkata: Around 3,000 to 4,000 people from Bengal are expected to join the protest in Delhi with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) claiming that nearly 100 buses will leave for Delhi from several parts of Bengal with the deprived job card holders on board.

The ruling party in the state organised “Mission Delhi” a protest movement in the streets of the national capital to put pressure on the Centre to clear the state’s dues under MGNREGS and Awas Yojana.

Many buses left for Delhi on Saturday morning from Netaji Indoor Stadium. There will be coordinators in each bus who will keep in touch with the Trinamool Congress leaders while on the way.

Medical kits have been provided to the buses which are taking the job card holders to Delhi.

Incidentally, Trinamool Congress had requested for a special train to transport the job card holders to Delhi and deposited money for booking 20 bogies.

On Friday, the Railway authorities cancelled the train. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said that a flight has been cancelled.

“First, they abruptly cancelled special train services from Kol to Del to prevent those who were to travel to participate in protests on Oct 2 & 3, demanding 10s of 1000s of crores owed to Bengal by BJP Union govt. Now a flight gets cancelled! Try as you might, we WILL TAKE YOU ON,” O’Brien posted on X.

Many Trinamool Congress leaders reached Delhi on Saturday night. Senior leaders like Chandrima Bhattacharya and Shashi Panja are likely to reach on Saturday. A team of 70 to 80 people are expected to reach Delhi by train. Many party leaders have left for Delhi from the city by Rajdhani Express.

Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Saturday said that Sathyaghara will be conducted at Raj Ghat on October 2 to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi while on the next day, a protest will be held at Jantar Mantar. Ghosh also attacked the ED saying that they are targeting the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and serving summons on the days when he is undertaking programmes.