Along with some members of the treasury bench, Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee tapped the desk to show appreciation for Mollah’s speech, which was punctuated with digs at his own party.

The minister said many party offices have come up on the land owned by the government. “There are party offices of the CPM as well of the Trinamool Congress. We have more offices than you have because we have been in power longer than you are,” he said.

Regarding the allegation of harassment of the public by employees of his department, the minister said: “There are 40,000 employees in my department and for corruption charges, proceedings were launched against 45 by June 23. Of them, 25 have been punished. But this is only the tip of the iceberg.”

He said his department had acquired 183 acres of land for railways this year and another 1,013 acres are in the pipeline. “I have told my department that railways and national highways have the top priority and there should not be any delay there,” Mollah said.