By IANS,
Kolkata : The West Bengal government Tuesday moved a resolution in the assembly for reviving the legislative council, abolished in the state in 1969, but the matter was referred to a special committee by the speaker following a suggestion from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee requested Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay to set up a constitutional mechanism for in-depth discussion on the subject.
Bandopadhyay then formed a 15-member special committee which would give its report within six weeks.
The chief minister said the council would enable not only non-political eminent persons and intellectuals, but also people like a rickshaw puller or a landless labourer to voice their problems.
Leader of the Opposition Surjyakanta Mishra, however, disagreed with the government view and said at a time when the state was going through a tight financial situation, the creation of the council would entail additional expenditure.
He suggested that the government could instead form advisory councils or committees.