The newly elected MLA of Bidhannagar Sharadwat Mukherjee met the top brass of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation on Monday. He was accompanied by the MLA of Rajarhat New Town Piyush Kanodia. Thirty-one of the 41 councillors, including the mayor of Bidhannagar Krishna Chakraborty, chairman Sabyasachi Dutta and deputy mayor Anita Mondal, were present. While both MLAs represent the BJP, the councillors are from the Trinamul Congress.
“Voters have elected representatives of a different party in the three Assembly seats while the Corporation continues to be run by Trinamul Congress. So there is ground for conflict. But we are all people’s representatives and there must be no break in services. So we, the MLAs of the areas under the Corporation, came over for a courtesy visit,” said Mukherjee, adding that Rajarhat Gopalpur MLA Tarunjyoti Tewari could not make it.
Newly elected MLA Sharadwat Mukherjee at Bidhannagar Subdivisional Hospital on Tuesday
Notable among the absentees from the Trinamul side were mayor-in-council Debraj Chakraborty, and councillors Alo Dutta of Duttabad, Joydeb Naskar of Nayapatty and Binu Mondal of Ward 27.
The conditions of the roads and the drainage system were the main issues raised by the two MLAs. “We have come up with a common agenda for action. Loopholes are in every system. So those are the areas we identified and discussed,” said Mukherjee.
Roads needed to be immediately repaired everywhere, including Salt Lake, he pointed out. In Kanodia’s constituency, drainage and encroachment on roads demanded attention. “The legality of parking lots across Salt Lake needs to be checked. Also building plans sanctioned as G+3 were coming up with multiple apartments on each floor. That is pushing up the number of occupants in each building,” Mukherjee said.
The MLA, who is a clinical oncologist by profession, visited Matri Sadan before coming to Poura Bhavan. “There are five to 10 patients in the outpatient department. There are five nurses and two laboratory technicians who work in shifts. Since there is no doctor in the lab, the technicians manage by themselves, getting the reports signed by a medical officer from Purta Bhavan. The indoor wing is shut since 2013. There is an operation theatre; there is anaesthesia equipment gathering dust. There is a paediatrics ward, in which soiled clothes are hung out to dry. I did not get to meet any doctor. I was told that a dentist, a gynaecologist and a general physician attend. If Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation cannot run the place, they should inform the people as it has been built with money from the public exchequer. The mayor claimed she was unaware of the situation at Matri Sadan,” he said.
MLA Saradwat Mukherjee inside a mobile medical unit run by Bidhannagar Subdivisional Hospital with superintendant Partha Pratim Guha on Tuesday
Kanodia said they had come to deliver a message to the civic officials about work that needed to be prioritised before the monsoon to check waterlogging. “The drainage points are choked. I am taking the civic engineers to visit two wards in my area right after the meeting,” he said.
The mayor conceded that there were gaps in civic services. “It is true that roads are not in good shape. The reason is a lack of funds. The drainage system, too, is looked into when people complain to us. They are new to the job. They are welcome to come and give us suggestions,” said Chakraborty.
Mukherjee, along with Tewari and Dum Dum MLA Arijit Bakshi, had paid a visit last week to South Dum Dum Municipality too.
Write to saltlake@abp.in