Office of the Hon'ble Chief Minister

Impacting the lives of specially abled people

There never was a more battered beginning to a Bengali new year in the April of 2017 for the Maity family of Bijayramchowk village in Purba (east) Medinipur district in south of West Bengal, with a population of over 90 million, little more than that of Germany.

"I applied for the assistance in 2019 and was told that I am eligible to get about Rs 1500 ($ 20), every alternate month. It could have taken care of my medical expenses, at least partially. But over the next months, we received nothing and my medication was stopped," said Chandan.

On the 10th day of the Bengali New Year the breadwinner of the seven member family - Chandan Maity, 35, fell from an electricity-carrying pole to severely damage the lumbar spine. Chandan, earning about $250 a month, was working between two transformers - 20 feet above the ground - at the edge of Bijayramchowk. "Usually when we work in one transformer, the electricity is snapped in the other. In this case, the other transformer wasn't disconnected and a live wire carrying 440 volts hit me like an overloaded truck. I fell from the pole;' said Chandan, a professional electrician. "Overnight our life was impacted - we had to reduce our food intake to buy medicine;' said Ms Maity. Meanwhile, Chandan heard about Yuvasree, a financial assistance scheme of the West Bengal government for the unemployed. "I applied for the assistance in 2019 and was told that I am eligible to get about Rs 1500 ($ 20), every alternate month. It could have taken care of my medical expenses, at least partially. But over the next months, we received nothing and my medication was stopped;' said Chandan. His little farm land, attached to his mud-thatched house - meanwhile - was inundated by water snapping the tiny supply of farm produce as Bijayramchowk is located on a flood plain bounded on all sides by a river Kanshabati and its two canals. "One winter evening, sitting in my farm land, I was wondering what I should do now to save the family who ran out of steam. They could neither foot the medical bills nor pay the fee to send my nine year old son Subhojit to school;' said Chandan. The Turning Point It was then he saw on video-blogging and sharing site, You Tube, the advertisement of the Grievance Cell in Bengal Chief Minister's office. It was flashing a number on the screen. "Within days I received a call from the local administrative office. I was assured that I am going to get the unemployment subsidy:' From the month of March (2020) Chandan started receiving an allowance of Rs 1500, paid once in two months. "Please write, I am ... we are ... grateful to the government;' Chandan said. The campaign has found a permanent place in the heart of the Maity household.

Duped by a promoter, saved by the Government

For Md Rafiqul Islam, a resident of Entally in east-central Kolkata, the main east-Indian metropolis, the third week of November of 2021 was filled with anxiety laced with fear. So much so that he was hesitant to receive your correspondent's call.

"I paid nearly Rs 16 lakh ($22000) to the builder who had an agreement with the land owners to construct the apartment building," said Mr Islam. But for over a year he was "not allowed" to take possession of his Entally flat, despite running from pillar to post trying to either recover the money or to get the possession of his two bedroom apartment.

Born in a nondescript village - Nagar - of Murshidabad district in central Bengal, Mr Islam's life is no different from that of an average Indian. Following his graduation in a local college, the suburban boy shifted to Kolkata, in search of a job and spent his initial years as an accountant maintaining books for commercial establishments. Eventually he shifted to trading, got married and sent two daughters to school and - like most middle-class Indians - purchased a 650 square feet flat in the east-central part of the metropolis. It was in the winter of 2020, when the family finalized the modest apartment triggering a nightmare. "I paid nearly Rs 16 lakh ($22000) to the builder who had an agreement with the land owners to construct the apartment building;' said Mr Islam. But for over a year he was "not allowed" to take possession of his Entally flat, despite running from pillar to post trying to either recover the money or to get the possession of his two bedroom apartment. "As I was paying a monthly rent of Rs 13,000 ($175) over and above the money I paid to the promoter, I was nearly broke;' he said. The problem - they all said - is simple: Muslims can't stay in the building block. "They should have told me about their decision to not let a Muslim purchase a flat in the building inhabited by the Hindus before I paid the advance, but they did not;' said Islam. Finally on August 6, he collapsed. A month later, Islam's younger daughter - Zahin Bilkis - tried a solution; the seventh standard student wrote a letter to the Grievance Cell of the Chief Minister, narrating about their trauma. The letter was signed by Mr Islam. "Within 72 hours, I received a call from the Entally police station and within days the problem was resolved;' said Mr Islam. The family of four - Mr Islam, his wife and the daughters, Zahin and Tasnim, said they are "overwhelmed" by the action of the Grievance Cell. They profusely thanked the government, the officers of the Grievance Cell and the Chief Minister for resolving the crisis in matter of days.

Helping a working mother to save her job

The story of Shyamali Manna, a physical education teacher in south Bengal's Hooghly district, is unusually similar to the plot of an award winning Kannada film, Act-1978.

"I was heavily pregnant, yet I was routinely visiting the DI office by train, covering nearly 200 kilometres," said Ms Manna. The two words - "service book" - still traumatize the family, said her elder brother Tapan Manna, a fish trader.

Ms Manna, a mother of two in her middle thirties, narrated a story sitting in her rented accommodation in Hooghly's Seakhala village. Ms Manna's life was at stake owing to the apathy of a handful of officials. The officials plainly refused to hand over her service book - with 16 years of career record - to the teacher when she was transferred from a government-run high school in south-central Bengal's Birbhum district to Hooghly in the south in 2017. "Sometime in the middle of 2017, the service record was sent from my previous school to the Suri DI office as I was transferred from Birbhum to Hooghly. I was told, my record will reach the Hooghly school in due process;' said Ms Manna But the service book never reached the Hooghly school. "Then the pandemic exploded; offices were shut. Intermittently when the DI office was opened, Shyamali used to go there from Hooghly hiring private vehicles which used to charge 7500 rupees (S100), each time. She spent quite a few thousands travelling to and from Birbhum for her service record;' said Mr Manna. Meanwhile a new service book was issued and sent to the DI office which too "disappeared mysteriously:' "At this point, I was told that this is a planned manipulation to extract money - in plain terms, a bribe - which is expected by particular staff ofthe DI office and many told me that they have had similar experiences across the state. They paid handsomely to get their service book:' said Ms Manna. But she neither paid the bribe nor strapped an explosive device like the protagonist of Act 1978 and called the Chief Minister's Grievance Cell sometime in the middle of 2021. "In matter of a week or two I received a call from the DI office and the new record book was handed over to me... it was such a relief:' Ms Manna's voice choked.

Promoting healthy livelihood

For the 70 year old doctor Asit Ghosh life has largely been sailing smoothly since he did his MBBS as a student in the first batch of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in 1973. He and his friends had to travel all the way back to Kolkata in deep south Bengal from the north to do their practical and internship, as his college was lacking in facilities.

"It was difficult but we managed;' said the doctor sitting in the home chamber in Baidyabati in historic Hooghly district where all communities from Parses and Jews, Dutch and Armenians to British arrived over centuries to do business.

"Hooghly had an advanced architecture for many centuries and roads and sewerage systems were developed over the time, other than in our municipal ward number 18;' quipped a neighbor of Dr Ghosh. He refused to share his name being a government employee but pointed at the spacious house of Dr Ghosh. Dr Ghosh reiterated what his neighbor said. "Look at this ... " He took us to the southern section of his house facing a gigantic vacant plot, partly turned into a forest. The land belongs to one of his neighbors who refused to clean it and the rest of the residents suffered. "All kinds of insects and reptiles - even large snakes - were settling in my chamber, pushing me and my family out;' said Dr Ghosh. The doctor argued, he and his neighbors were afflicted with a variety of vector-borne diseases like malaria or dengue. The general physician's smooth sailing life was clearly disturbed and he bombed the local civic body with letters. "But no one responded. Finally, I had to post a complaint at the Chief Minister's Grievance Cell. The action was prompt. The forest was cleared in a matter of days:' Dr Ghosh stopped to listen to a couple of medical representatives who were making a presentation on the latest drugs to target viral diseases. "I hope malaria would not re-surface this year as the municipality cleared the shrubs. I am indeed grateful to the Grievance Cell and you may write that;' he told the duo.

Health coverage: once denied, ultimately ensured

As one step in the new city - Rajarhat - on the eastern fringe of Kolkata, the main metropolis in east India, the mega buildings hit the eye. In one of these malls works Arpita Hari, a wide-eyed young woman, in a unisex parlor as the 'salon manager'.

Ms Hari was repeatedly applying for the card "and repeatedly denied the URN (Unique Verification Number); finally I gave up. It was in the winter of 2020. It was a bad time as the sales were not picking up either."

"Following Covid, the business is fast picking up. We have way more footfalls in this mall and our parlor than in the beginning of the year: 'The trained and successful hair and skin specialist admitted that she is far less gloomy now than in early 2021. "We have reasons to rejoice;' she said. Her personal problem - incidentally - was solved too. "But then one cropped up - suddenly - last year. For reasons completely unknown to me (and) I am sure it is one of those proverbial technical glitches which refused to let me register for Swasthya Sathi;' said Ms Hari. Ms Hari was aware about the benefits of the health insurance scheme and was "too keen" to have one for herself as the rest of her family members had benefitted. A friend, eventually, suggested Ms Hari to dial the Griev ance Cell in the Chief Mini st er's office, sometime in the middle of 2021. "I did and to my extreme surprise within days I received a call from Swasthya Bhavan in Salt Lake and they gave me my URN number. People like us - who have always worked in the private sector - often complained against services provided by the government. But from the middle of October - when I got the card - I changed my opinion;' said a grinning Ms Hari,

Roof on head, aftermath the super cyclone.

Alamin Gayen, 33, is a typical example of multiple Indian economic tragedies over the last half of the last decade.

"The master tailor went out of business towards the end of 2019; a couple of years after GST was imposed as he could not handle the new tax regime. I lost my job," said Alamin.

A receding Indian economy hit by demonetization (2016) and imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017 threw him out of his job, while outbreak of the pandemic compelled Mr Gayen to change his profession. "I was a tailor before Covid and now I sell Phuchka;'- an Indian snack- said Mr Gayen. In addition, the super cyclone Amphan (2020) hit Mr Gayen's district South 24 Parganas - on the edge of Bay of Bengal - so hard that overnight he turned from a lower income dressmaker to "a nowhere man': to quote British band Beatles. Mr Gayen tried desperately for a job in and around the administrative block- Bhangar II - where he resides but failed to get a response as the local tailoring business, part of a massive medium and small scale industry in Bengal, slipped into coma, following two successive economic actions - demonetization and GST imposition. As Alamin was searching - literally - from door to door for a job, Amphan blew off the temporary bamboo-tin roof of his house, exposing three children to the traumatic monsoon of 2020. "It is then that I sought alms for the first time in my life:' Alamin approached the local village council which in turn connected him to the Chief Minister's Grievance Cell where Alamin registered a request to re-build the roof of his one-room house. "I received financial assistance of Rs 5000 (S70) from the local administrative office;' said Alamin, an unusually docile man. "It is a very tiny amount but it arrived promptly. I could buy giant plastic sheets and thin bamboo shrubs to reconstruct the room. It was of immense help:' "My children and wife were safe;' said Alamin. He looks forward to getting back to his trade - tailoring.

Getting our people back during lock down

Swapan Dhara, is one of many millions of West Bengal's migrant workers in north Kerala whose life collapsed with the advent of Covid pandemic. Firstly, he lost his job as a construction worker which used to deliver about Rs 15000 ($ 200) each month and secondly, he got stuck in Kerala's Kuppam town, in the extreme south of the country.

"Moreover, the pressure of not sending my monthly contribution to the family in South 24 Parganas was distressing as I have a daughter, wife and parents to support."

"He was running out of money and in a horrible state. We were terribly upset and nearly stopped cooking at our place too;' said Swapan's mother Sumata Dhara. Pandemic accentuated his stress. On one hand his source of income choked and on the other he could not leave Kerala as the train services were suspended; Swapan continued to pay through nose for meals and lodging as costs escalated. Said the 28-year-old Swapan. His brother too was stuck in Maharashtra, the west Indian state, where he was engaged in similar trade. It is around this time, middle of 2020, his colleagues at the construction site informed him about West Bengal Chief Minister's Grievance Cell. "Call them, they are facilitating returns," a friend from our village told me as he handed over the number which was sent to him from Bengal;' said Swapan. At the peak of India-wide lockdown of 2020, it was difficult to organize a train easily by both the Kerala and the Bengal government. It was explained to Swapan while he was assured that the West Bengal government is "aware about its responsibility to bring its residents back:' "About a month later, the police informed us that our train had been arranged and it was sometime during the mid-monsoon, we were bused to the station; we boarded a Bengal bound train;' said Swapan. The train loaded with workers took two days to reach Howrah, the key railway station in Ben gal, and everyone was "treated with care:' The mother said that they are grateful to the Chief Minister and the state government for getting her son back; his wife nodded in agreement.

Justice served to poor farmers family

Sheikh Haider Ali, a thirty-one-year-old paddy farmer from Shargram, in the district of East Bardhaman - often described as West Bengal's rice bowl - has just won a personal battle.

"I am grateful to Mamata-di, our Chief Minister and her office for helping us to get our clean papers without paying a penny'; says an elated Haidar, who even spread the news of his "victory" against the local land records office. "I told my friends that the Grievance Cell helpline number is not a hoax, it works and I am a beneficiary."

There is a government of West Bengal programme, all land deeds should be computerized and each Block Land Record Office (BLRO) must hand over a digitally generated slip to land owners. A landowner must have only one such slip for his or her entire landholding. Haider's father and two uncles had inherited about twenty thousand square yards of land from his grandfather. However, when digital land slips were generated, his father got two slips for his land parcel and - to his extreme surprise - it was in two different names. To correct the mistake Haider approached the local BLRO. But the record office refused to cooperate. It made him run from pillar to post for almost a year. The apathy on part of the local land office was "terribly frustrating" - to use Haidar's words. One winter morning in December 2019, Haidar came across an advertisement in a Bengali newspaper; it said, Bengal's residents may call the Chief Minister's Grievance Cell in case of any personal or societal dispute; a telephone number was provided. His call went unanswered and Haider assumed it is one of the routine helpline numbers which never works. He was pleasantly surprised as his phone rang under a week. It was from the Chief Minister's office. "When they learnt about the case from me;' says Haider, "[I] already felt assured: ‘Within a week, he again got a call from BLRO, indicating that the snag has been removed. The family has since also received help from the Chief Minister's Krishan Bandhu scheme, a programme to support farmers in case of crop failure. Haider's family - especially his mother Laila sheikh - is now confident of providing quality education to her granddaughter Nusrat.

As on: 19/06/2023 12:17

Date of Grievance	Complainant Name	Grievance Category	Grievance Description	Grievance Status	Remarks

Impacting the lives of specially abled people

There never was a more battered beginning to a Bengali new year in the April of 2017 for the Maity family of Bijayramchowk village in Purba (east) Medinipur district in south of West Bengal, with a population of over 90 million, little more than that of Germany.

"I applied for the assistance in 2019 and was told that I am eligible to get about Rs 1500 ($ 20), every alternate month. It could have taken care of my medical expenses, at least partially. But over the next months, we received nothing and my medication was stopped," said Chandan.

On the 10th day of the Bengali New Year the breadwinner of the seven member family - Chandan Maity, 35, fell from an electricity-carrying pole to severely damage the lumbar spine. Chandan, earning about $250 a month, was working between two transformers - 20 feet above the ground - at the edge of Bijayramchowk. "Usually when we work in one transformer, the electricity is snapped in the other. In this case, the other transformer wasn't disconnected and a live wire carrying 440 volts hit me like an overloaded truck. I fell from the pole;' said Chandan, a professional electrician. "Overnight our life was impacted - we had to reduce our food intake to buy medicine;' said Ms Maity. Meanwhile, Chandan heard about Yuvasree, a financial assistance scheme of the West Bengal government for the unemployed. "I applied for the assistance in 2019 and was told that I am eligible to get about Rs 1500 ($ 20), every alternate month. It could have taken care of my medical expenses, at least partially. But over the next months, we received nothing and my medication was stopped;' said Chandan. His little farm land, attached to his mud-thatched house - meanwhile - was inundated by water snapping the tiny supply of farm produce as Bijayramchowk is located on a flood plain bounded on all sides by a river Kanshabati and its two canals. "One winter evening, sitting in my farm land, I was wondering what I should do now to save the family who ran out of steam. They could neither foot the medical bills nor pay the fee to send my nine year old son Subhojit to school;' said Chandan. The Turning Point It was then he saw on video-blogging and sharing site, You Tube, the advertisement of the Grievance Cell in Bengal Chief Minister's office. It was flashing a number on the screen. "Within days I received a call from the local administrative office. I was assured that I am going to get the unemployment subsidy:' From the month of March (2020) Chandan started receiving an allowance of Rs 1500, paid once in two months. "Please write, I am ... we are ... grateful to the government;' Chandan said. The campaign has found a permanent place in the heart of the Maity household.

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Impacting the lives of specially abled people

Duped by a promoter, saved by the Government

Helping a working mother to save her job

Promoting healthy livelihood

Health coverage: once denied, ultimately ensured

Roof on head, aftermath the super cyclone.

Getting our people back during lock down

Justice served to poor farmers family

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