A Left Front demonstration in front of the zilla parishad office on Friday. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, March 7: Work at the zilla parishad is threatening to grind to a halt after its budget for the next financial year fell through because of a political impasse.

Since the budget could not be passed, the parishad will not be able to pay the salaries of its employees after March 31, nor carry on with its development projects.

The permanent committee of the zilla parishad has 61 members. The Left Front has 32, while the Congress-Trinamul Congress-BJP, which is in power, has only 29. Trouble began today when the Left Front members boycotted the parishad’s budget session, which had been adjourned once before. In their absence, the chairman, Gautam Chakrabarty, was forced to adjourn it further.

The Left members stayed away from the discussion as a mark of protest against the “corrupt manner” in which the three-party combine was running the parishad.

They had done the same thing on February 26, when the budget was placed for the first time.

“Let it be known that the parishad cannot work without keeping in mind the interests of the people. They (the three-party combine) are simply on a looting spree,” said Jiban Moitra, the district secretary of the CPM.

The Congress, however, has adopted a resolution condemning the Left boycott.

District magistrate Chittaranjan Das, who is the executive officer of the parishad, said: “I have informed the panchayat department about the impasse and they should look into the crisis right away.”