Mamata Banerjee on Monday handed over appointment letters to family members of nine persons massacred at Bogtui in Birbhum district on March 21 and the wife of Trinamul Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh whose murder had triggered the carnage.

The 10 people will get Rs 10,000 each a month during their one-year probation and after that, they will be absorbed into Group D posts in the departments of health, land and land reforms, information and cultural affairs and home and hill affairs, all under the chief minister.

“I had promised them government jobs after they had requested the same during my visit to the place (Bogtui) on March 24. We took minimum time and prepared the papers to give them jobs,” said the chief minister.

“I know that there is no alternative to the loss of lives. But still, those who are alive should live a respectful life. That is why the request for jobs has been accepted,” she added.

A section of officials said the chief minister had taken initiatives to give jobs to the relatives of those killed at Bogtui on March 21 at the earliest to establish that she was eager to give justice to the victims’ families as state police could no longer investigate the massacre after the case was handed over to the CBI by Calcutta High Court.

“This was also required to show that the government is with the victims’ families after allegations were levelled against several Trinamul leaders soon after the incident. The Opposition held the Trinamul-led government responsible for the incident,” said a source.

On Monday, Mamata criticised the BJP for blowing the incident out of proportion and using it to divert people’s attention from grave issues like the poor economic condition in the country.

“An incident happened and our government is taking required actions. If the government did not take any action, then questions could have been raised.… The BJP is trying to divert people’s attention from other major issues. Why don’t they talk about massacres in UP or Karnataka?” asked the chief minister.

Mamata has been criticising the attempts to politicise the Bogtui massacre from the very beginning and had even hinted at a “conspiracy” behind the tragedy.

On Monday, she spoke extensively about the state of the economy in the country, especially the price rise, because of regular hikes in fuel rates. “Price rise is a central subject. In such a situation, the Centre should call an all-party meeting to resolve the issues.… But the Centre is trying to divert attention,” she said.

“We all know the condition of Sri Lanka, where economic woes have forced people to hit the streets.… Our economic situation is also bad. I will not compare India with Sri Lanka, but it is a fact that we are not in a good position because of faulty planning of the Centre,” she said.

Mamata added that the financial condition was so bad the state was not getting GST compensation from the Centre. “The chief minister of Chhattisgarh has written a letter to me in this regard. The BJP-led Centre is trying to divert attention from these issues by talking about violence in Bengal,” she said.