Declaring that the Government of West Bengal, "formulates its own policy and does not take its cue from Gujarat", Chief Minister Jyoti Basu denied that any headcount of minority communities was on in his State.

Basu, who along with the West Bengal Minister for Minority Welfare Mohammad Amin met National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairman Tahir Mahmood here, categorically refuted the report which appeared in a daily newspaper.

"There is no reason for us to disbelieve the Chief Minister's categorical denial that any Gujarat-like exercise is taking place in West Bengal", Mahmood said.

The newspaper report had alleged that intelligence agency officials were seeking information on mosques and madrassas in the State and checking out the fund sources of non-governmental organisations associatedwith certain communities.

The outcry against the census operations conducted by the Gujarat Government to gather information about the Christian and Muslim minority communities finally forced the State Government to call off the exercise.

Last week, the NCM had written to the West Bengal Home Secretary seeking the State Government's reactions to the report, to which the State Government had responded saying the State formulated its own policies and did not take cue from anyone else.