JAVED AHMED KHAN, Trinamul Congress leader of the Opposition in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, met readers of The Telegraph at Calcutta Boating Club and Resort to answer their queries. Participants included Sadhan Banerjee, Sourish Misra, Sahabuddin, Ashok Hore, Sahid Mondol, Shyamal Misra, Tariq Z. Siddiqui, Tapan Mukherjee, Sk. Arif Ali, Aftab Rahim, Abdul Rafiq, Bharat Chandra Dalui, Akhtar Ali Wasi, Mehmood Akhtar, Md. Dastagir, Md. Reyan, Bharati Das and Noor Alam

Aftab Rahim: About 30,000 people living on Topsia Road (South) and GJ Khan Road have not been getting treated water from Palta even after the capacity of the plant was increased and a booster pumping station commissioned at Park Circus. Why? Are we victims of politics?

Yes, you are victims of CPM politics. You will be surprised to know that you are being denied treated water because only a 100-metre pipeline is missing. I have taken up the matter with mayor Bikash Bhattacharya. He has promised to look into it.

Noor Alam: What exactly prevents the laying of the 100-metre pipeline?

Sourish Misra: The mayor has claimed that there was no drive against food adulteration during the tenure of the Trinamul?

Bikash Bhattacharya is ignorant in civic matters. During my term as mayoral council member (health), the CMC carried out anti-adulteration drives in posh hotels and in Burrabazar.

However, it is true that Subrata Mukherjee was not particularly pleased with the drives. He subsequently stopped the drives against food adulteration.

Sourish Misra: Congress and Trinamul members do not attend the civic House regularly and in case of a debate, prefer walking out. Will you continue the tradition?

I do not agree with you. During no confidence and adjournment motions, all Opposition members remain present in the House. As far as walk-outs are concerned, it is a form of democratic protest.

Ashok Hore: The Trinamul board had commissioned the Kasba booster pumping station to meet the long-standing demand for filtered surface water of over 200,000 people living in five wards on the eastern fringes of the city. Even after the laying of pipelines, we are still getting untreated water.

I have already visited pockets in the area along with chief engineer (water supply). He is now studying the problems. I hope they will be sorted out soon.

Shyamal Misra: The civic education service has virtually collapsed. Guardians, even in the slums, carefully avoid CMC primary schools. Why are you wasting the hard-earned money of taxpayers on a futile attempt to promote primary education?

There has been a setback in the civic primary education system. The prolonged negligence suffered by the CMC schools during the the 15-year tenure of the CPM-led board has resulted in the present situation.

But I don?t think promotion of primary education is a futile exercise for the CMC. There are pockets in the city where Hindi-medium or Urdu-medium primary schools are still in demand. More than 400 students study in the CMC primary school at 47, Gulam Jilani Khan Road. In another school at 11, Topsia Road, there are over 300 students.

To be continued