Separate directorate to come up for revenue, intel & enforcement

Kolkata: The state Cabinet on Friday decided to come up with a separate directorate of revenue, intelligence and enforcement, which will be functioning under the aegis of the state Finance department.

The proposed directorate will be headed by an IAS officer and will perform more or less similar functions as the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

A source in the state government said that the proposed directorate will have a designated court under it and will deal with cases of evasion of tax or financial fraud. The directorate will be empowered to take action against those evading taxes or resorting to swindling of money. It may be mentioned that time and again, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been vocal against the BJP government at the Centre, alleging that they have been controlling agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), ED and the Income Tax department.

A few days ago on January 25, Banerjee had described the CBI as one of the "allies" of the BJP-led Central government and said that the "headless agency" has been converted into an organ of BJP. She claimed that the saffron party was harassing leaders of the Opposition through various Central agencies out of sheer political vendetta.

In October last year, when two top officers of CBI were sent on leave amid an ongoing tussle in the Central investigating agency, Banerjee had alleged that CBI has become BJP's policing agency and tweeted 'CBI has become BBI (BJP Bureau of Investigation)'.

In a recent public rally at Birbhum, Banerjee had reminded BJP that the state also has control over investigating agencies like Criminal Investigation Department (CID) but it does not impose anything on its functioning, which is in sharp contrast with BJP hounding agencies like CBI against the Opposition.

The Cabinet meeting that was held at the state Assembly on Friday, also approved a 3.75 acre land for a private company, to set up a lubricant unit. The land is under the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC).

The Cabinet further approved granting a 10 acre land to the Council of Research for Yoga and Naturopathy under the AYUSH department of the Centre for setting up its unit. The land belongs to the TB hospital in Kalyani and has been lying vacant. It is being offered for free to the AYUSH ministry.