Corporate lobby up against government: Mamata
"Yes they are up in arms (against the government). Some corporate houses who also run media houses wanted that I lift the (Urban) land ceiling. I will not do so to serve their business interests," she said in reply to a question during an interview with Bengali TV channels.
"Where is land available in Kolkata? Land available has been sold out. There is also a sentiment involved. People feel protected, there is a sense of security. I have a right to live in the city. Let the law remain, why change it unnecessarily?" she asked.
"We can decide on a case to case basis as we cleared the land for the Jindals. I cannot allow the relaxation of land celing to allow someone to construct swimming pools or serve individuals when there are people who do not have roofs on their heads."
Under the land ceiling law, holdings in urban areas cannot cross 7.5 cottahs. Holdings in the rest of Bengal will have to be below 17.5 cottahs (irrigated) and 24.5 cottahs (non-irrigated).
She said there was conspiracy (against her government) since the Amri fire incident and added law would take its own course.
She alleged, "Some donors of CPI(M) started saying after the death of graphic artist Rizwanur Rehman that it was a fight between the Marwaris vs Muslims. After the arrests in the Amri case, they started to create a lobby and put pressure that it was Marwari vs Bengali (episode).
"If
a
Bengali
commits
murder,
can
I
say
he
should
be
let
off?
A
murderer
is
a
murderer.
A
heinous
politics
is
being
perpetrated
by
someone
to
serve
their
own
interests.
And
this
conspiracy
has
started
since
the
Amri
incident.
"If
anybody
is
a
murderer,
he
remains
a
murderer.
He
cannot
be
allowed
to
go
scot
free.
The
law
would
take
its
own
course."
she
said.
The police arrested seven of the 14 AMRI directors after the fire.
PTI