The stretch of road on which the chief minister’s spare car broke down. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, May 12: Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee got a taste of bad roads in Malda yesterday when the front axle of his spare, bullet-proof Ambassador car broke while negotiating a treacherous stretch of the state highway connecting Habibpur to NH34.

“It was a small matter, but our heads were bowed in shame,” Malda district magistrate Chittaranjan Das said today.

The incident occurred around 7.15pm near Muchia village when Bhattacharjee was travelling from an election rally at Bulbulchandi in Habibpur to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s guest-house in Farakka, Murshidabad.

Additional district magistrate Purnachandra Shit said two bullet-proof cars had been brought from Calcutta for the chief minister, who addressed rallies in Malda (yesterday) and Murshidabad (today).

“The spare car broke down on the state highway from Habibpur. The front axle broke while the vehicle was negotiating the pot-holed stretch,” Shit said. He added that the convoy screeched to a halt at the spot located about 20km from Malda town. Security guards and policemen got off their vehicles to sort out the problem but had to abandon the vehicle and proceed towards Farakka.

Shit and Malda police chief Satyajit Bandyopadhyay were travelling in the last car of the eight-vehicle convoy. Although the chief minister did not pull up anyone for the brief delay, both officers were left red-faced by the incident.

Shit said the district magistrate had asked PWD officials in the district to repair the road, which is being widened. The project began more than a year ago and is still unfinished.

“I held two meetings on May 4 and May 10 to discuss the road condition before the chief minister’s visit, but there was no result. I am writing to the PWD once more to draw their attention to the laxity,” the district magistrate said. He added that the widening of the road was funded by the Asian Development Bank and the state government.

A PWD engineer said work on widening two stretches of state highways began in December 2006. One is between Mangalbari and Eyeho, where the incident took place, and the other between Malda and Mahadipur.

“The problem is that even though Rs 30 crore had been sanctioned for the project, the contractor executing it is inexperienced in this kind of work,” the engineer said.

The car that broke down has been repaired. “Today, we sent it to Murshidabad,” the additional district magistrate said.