Mamata Banerjee on Monday came down heavily on Purulia district magistrate Rahul Majumdar after a local Trinamul Congress leader told her during an administrative review meeting that revenues from brick kilns were going to “the pockets of a few officials”.

“Are you listening, DM?” the chief minister asked Majumdar point blank after the local Trinamul leader complained about the alleged corruption by some officials.

“How are you running the district? You have been here for so many days, my idea (about you) has changed today.... I am trying to give everything to the people but why are people here greedy? How much more do you want?” Mamata added, making it clear that she would not allow corruption in the administration.

Senior officials, including the DM, and Trinamul leaders were present at the review meeting in Purulia.

“Mind it, these are not Trinamul people.... Had they been from my party, I would have slapped them,” said Mamata.

“This is done by lower level staff in the administration. Money is collected and then it goes to the pockets of a few officials,” she added, making it clear that she would not allow a section of officials to fleece common people by using their position in the government.

With her eyes firmly on next year’s panchayat polls, stern message of tough action against corruption has been the theme of the latest round district administrative review meetings that the chief minister started this month.

Sources close to the chief minister said the issue of corruption in the administration — repeatedly harped by the Opposition to create a narrative against her government — had begun to bother her in the wake of a controversies over recruitments into schools.

The fact that she was in a mood to go after some corrupt officials was clear from the very beginning of Monday’s meeting as she had invited to the dais three tribal families, who had apparently paid bribes to officials to get land-related services from government offices, as witnesses to establish how corrupt practices by a section of bureaucracy was earning a bad name for the government.

“There are two shops besides the BL and LRO (block land and land reforms office). The officials had been sending poor people, mainly tribal people, to those shops to deposit money.… I have got several complaints on how these officials have taken money, from Rs 1,000 to Rs 30,000, according to measurement of the land. We have made the mutation process free for all and it is an online service. Then, why will the people have to pay?” asked Mamata, before prodding two of the tribal witnesses to share their experience.

After the two victims shared their experience on how they had to pay money to agents for mutation, she directed the administration to seal the two shops in Purulia’s Balarampur, which were being used as collection centres for some officials of the block land and land revenue department.

“I always said that you (officials) are the face of the government. So, you need to be honest to serve the people. Why will I receive complaints at my office about such corruption?” the chief minister asked.

During the meeting, Mamata asked Purulia police chief S. Selvamurugan whether he had already raided those shops or “allowed them to flee through the Jhargram border”.

“The administration should work promptly. As soon as I gave details of the corrupt people, you should have reached the spot to take action against the accused,” she said.

Within a few minutes, the SP reported to Mamata that those two shops had been sealed and two persons were detained.

Then, the chief minister said those who had come up in public as witnesses would be given proper protection and asked local Trinamul leaders to take care of them.

“I thank those people who told me about their experience in public. They should not be disturbed further. If they are disturbed, I will arrest all those involved in this..” she said.

Apart from sending a stern message to the officials, Mamata also asked her party colleagues to visit the doorsteps of the people to help them get government service.

“You did not receive votes from the people in the Lok Sabha elections.… You were also defeated in the Assembly polls. But such defeats are not an issue and you have to reach out to people at their doorsteps to help them out. You have the responsibility to help them in getting government services,” she told Purulia zilla parishad chief Sujoy Banerjee.