Leader of SC/ST organisation has been issued charge sheet by Kolkata Municipal Corporation

The following report has appeared in The Statesman of Kolkata dated 3 June 2012:

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has issued a show-cause notice to an employee for visiting the backward class welfare department secretary’s office during duty hours.

The incident has created a flutter among the employees belonging to the SC & ST categories. They have sought the intervention of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Mr Aloke Hazra, general secretary of 14th April Committee, which fights for SC & ST people was issued a show-cause notice by the Chief of Municipal Finance and Audit  on 31 May.

The notice reads, “whereas the secretary of the backward class welfare department informed over telephone that Mr Aloke Hazra, municipal accountant attended the office secretary, BCW department around 11AM and 12 noon on May 29, during duty hours without obtaining permission from his superior authority.” Mr Hazra had gone to lodge a complaint against the authorities of a school in Kalyani for flouting an order of the chief secretary while admitting SC & ST students. KMC employees are however baffled at how the authorities could possibly issue a show-cause notice to Mr Hazra on the basis of a complaint by the secretary of BCW department. Mr Hazra had gone to see him in his capacity as the general secretary of a union, they said. “Office bearers of unions are given certain relaxation as they have to work for the union. It is a convention and is followed in all government offices,” they said.

Comments by Santosh Rana, General Secretary of PCC, CPI(ML:

The new government in Writers Buildings had promised to defend the constitutional rights of the SC, ST and OBCs but they are flouting the system of reservation. The 14th April Committee has always been fighting to defend the constitutional safeguards of the Dalits and Adivasis. Mr Aloke Hazra is a dedicated  Dalit Activist and is General Secretary of 14th April Committee. By issuing a show-cause notice to Mr Aloke Hazra, the state government is launching an attack on the Dalit movement. It is part of a general attack on democratic rights of the people of West Bengal.

The CPI(ML) severely condemns the attack on Aloke Hazra and demands that the show-cause notice be withdrawn and the government strictly implements the reservation system for the SC, ST and OBCs.

The 14th April Committee has called a protest meeting on 15th June at 4 PM to be held at SC&ST Employees Welfare Office at 11A, Mirza Glalib Street.

All parties, organisations and individuals who stand for social justice and democratic rights have been invited to join the protest meeting.