Trinamool Leader In West Bengal’s Birbhum Returns ‘Cut Money’ Taken From MNREGA Beneficiaries

Amidst continuing protests in West Bengal against the entrenched practice of local leaders taking bribes, known locally as ‘cut money’, from beneficiaries of government schemes, a Trinamool booth president from Birbhum district’s Chatra returned Rs 1,641 per person to 141 villagers who had applied for jobs under MGNREGA, reports The New Indian Express.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee had also recently asked her partymen to refund such commissions they had taken from the people.

Explaining, why he had taken the money in the first place and why he was returning it now, Mukherjee said he was simply following party orders.

“I took the money to carry out the party’s activities in the area. Since the CM asked us to refund the money, I returned the money,” he said.

Local Trinamool leaders like Mukherjee are now facing the heat as Banerjee has directed police to start acting on complaints against the cut money practice. Moreover, district magistrates have been told to schedule one day on a weekly basis for hearing cut money complaints.