Govt wanted to reserve 10 per cent jobs for Muslims: Buddhadeb

"There was a legal barrier so long, but the report of Ranganath Mishra Commission has given us the scope to reserve ten per cent of the government jobs for Muslims in West Bengal who consist of 25 per cent of the (state) population," Bhattacharjee said at a programme here yesterday.

"We are in the process to reserve ten per cent of the jobs for them, considering all the legal aspects," he said at the programme where he formally set forth the process of disbursement of cheques to the beneficiaries of West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation under its various loan and scholarship schemes.

Affirming his government's commitment to the minorities, Bhattacharjee said: "We have given Rs 276 crore as loan to the minority community people in Bengal, of which Rs 17.17 crore was spent in Nadia alone."

He asked boys and girls of the community to pursue education and added they would be assisted economically by the government. To queries by the media on the issue of nuclear plant in Haripur, Bhattacharjee shot back "I have not come here to discuss Haripur".