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By Pradeep Kumar Sarkar
Jyoti Basu moved all around the forest with his convoy of ten motor vehicles violating the rules and regulations of the Forest Department. Even the royal families of other countries of modern times will not indulge in such unlawful, reckless and immoral acts.
Jyoti Basu is shameless even now squandering public money. The top CPI(M) leaders advised the Party members to lead a simple, modest life and stress on corrective measures for them. But the top leaders themselves, especially Joyti Basu lead a reckless life at the expense of public money.
He went to Holong Bungalow for holiday tour from October 16-23 in Jaldapara Sanctuary, Jalpaiguri which has eight suites including six for public.
Not only all the prior bookings of the Holong Bungalow but also all the prior bookings of the Jalpaiguri district (including Sukhna of Darjeeling District) were cancelled by the Forest Department all of a sudden for the tour programme of Jyoti Basu.
The state government provided royal service to this leader of the proletariat. Jyoti Basu moved all around the forest with his convoy of ten motor vehicles violating the rules and regulations of the Forest Department. Even the royal families of other countries of modern times will not indulge in such unlawful, reckless and immoral acts.
Even foreign tourists like Mr. Bennet Timothi, John Halford and their parties were not spared. They were due to stay at Holong Bungalow on October 19 and 20, 2004 for which they booked the same from London in August. But in the first week of October 2004, the Tourism Department of WB cancelled their bookings. The tourist organisation was very much aggrieved as they could not show Jaldapara Sanctuary to the foreign tourists. The foreign tourists made serious complaint to the tourist organisation alleging that they had no such bitter experience in touring other parts of India. They demanded refund of booking money but the Forest Department was totally unconcerned about the refund and was busy and only interested catering to the demands of Jyoti Basu.
The demands of Jyoti Basu and the members of his entourage were endless. His entourage comprised his P.A. and his family guarded by 42 security personnel and a medical team of 5 doctors and an ambulance van. Besides, Jogesh Barman, Minister of Tourism, W.B., and his own entourage team gave them company. The expenses of the team starting from accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner charges were Rs 8,000 per day. In procuring foodstuff like chicken, varieties of fishes to the liking of Jyoti Basu several cars ran hundreds of kilometers to and fro daily incurring huge expenses on petrol and diesel. The staff of the Forest Department used to start their trip early in the morning to collect fresh ?Barouli? fish from the Mansai river in the Coochbihar District which is very favourite to Jyoti Basu. Ashok Bhattacharjee, MLA of Siliguri and Minister of Urban Development WB, sent cooks from a renowned hotel of Siliguri to prepare palatable and special dishes for Joyti Basu.
Jyoti Basu with his convoy of ten vehicles went to see rehabilitation centre for cheetas at South Khaerbari Forest where petrol and diesel driven vehicles are prohibited and only battery driven vehicles are allowed. But no rules and regulations can apply to the nawab of West Bengal. He moved in his Qualis to avoid hazards of changing vehicles. The protected cheetas were given meat on that day one hour late so that Jyoti Basu can see all the cheetas together at one time. Coming out of the forest he made short comments before the journalists on the problems of the tea gardens of the area.
Jyoti Basu is a glaring example of squandering public money because as the Chief Minister of West Bengal he made unlimited merriment at the cost of the public exchequer. He installed lift at his ancestral house at Hindusthan Park, Kolkata at the cost of the public exchequer though he did not reside there and had a ready and fully furnished flat at the Raj Bhavan, but he actually resides at Indira Bhavan, a building in Salt Lake, Kolkata with a vast open space bounded by high walls and guarded by some hundreds of armed security personnel. Even now he resides there with a fleet of security personnel and is provided with three cars two of which are air-conditioned. It never pricked the conscience of Jyoti Basu that he ruled an insolvent state and is still squandering public money.
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