Slamming the West Bengal government over alleged irregularities in teacher recruitment in schools, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday wondered when the TMC dispensation will wake up from its Kumbhakarna-like’ sleep to offer justice to job aspirants.
He also accused the Mamata Banerjee-led government of not being keen to redress grievances of candidates who have been protesting against the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam even though a former state minister and several officials have been arrested in the case.
There is corruption in the education system, which has come to the forefront. “When will the state government wake up from its Khumbakarna-like sleep to offer justice to the candidates who have been agitating for a long time,” Pradhan told reporters after visiting Dakshineswar temple here.
Kumbhakarna is a mythological character from the Ramayana, who used to sleep six months a year. Former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged close associate Arpita Mukherjee were on July 23 arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the money trail in the scam.
The agency claimed to have seized cash, apart from bullion, jewellery and property deeds from the latter’s flats in Kolkata. Another central agency CBI had on Monday arrested North Bengal University vice chancellor Subires Bhattacharyya in connection with its probe into the assistant teachers’ recruitment irregularities in 2016. The union education minister claimed that he had in August sent a letter to the state government over the alleged irregularities in the SCC recruitment scam but did not receive any reply.