Calcutta, May 21: Calcutta will officially grow after 27 years but not to the full extent possible because the Mamata Banerjee government has truncated a plan to merge Salt Lake with the city.

Sector V, the infotech hub in Salt Lake, and parts of Joka where the IIM is located will be brought under the jurisdiction of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). Sources said the original plan was to bring the whole of Salt Lake under CMC but the government denied such a proposal was mooted.

“We have decided to bring Sector V in the east and two gram panchayats which come under Joka in the south under the CMC. The chief minister has approved the decision. We will pass the necessary legislation in the Assembly soon,” state urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim said.

Hakim met senior officials of his department before deciding on a string of measures to “streamline” the administration of Calcutta. (See chart)

The last time the civic authority’s jurisdiction was expanded was in 1984 when 41 wards were added to the CMC area, taking the number of wards to the present 141. Once the new changes are made, the number of wards is expected to go up by 12 to 15.

According to an official, the government is also considering a proposal to bring under CMC Baishnabghata-Patuli and some areas under the South Dum Dum Municipality in the “near future”.

Sources in Writers’ said the new government backed out of the plan to include the entire Salt Lake in CMC following resistance from “influential residents” of the township who did not want an upward revision in tax.

“They said that if the entire Salt Lake is brought under CMC, the residents would have to pay at least four times higher taxes,” said an official.

Sector V, home to several infotech firms, pays commercial tax rates and the rest of Salt Lake the lower residential rate.

However, minister Hakim said: “I am not aware of any plan to include the entire Salt Lake in CMC. I became a minister yesterday and Mamata Banerjee conveyed to me her desire to include only Sector V under the Calcutta civic body.”

Hakim said the government’s primary concern was to provide improved amenities and not generate higher tax revenue for CMC. “The inclusion of these areas will help us provide better civic infrastructure… improved drainage, roads and water supply. That’s our prime concern,” he said.

Building rules in CMC areas and Salt Lake differ. An architect’s sanction is required to construct buildings in Salt Lake while a chartered engineer’s approval is sufficient in Calcutta.

Hakim, after consulting Mamata, also decided to hand over the charge of maintaining all roads within the city to CMC. Many city roads are now maintained by the public works department. Officials said Mamata wanted a sole custodian for all city roads and picked the CMC as it has more funds at its disposal to spend on roads.

La Nuit Bengal, leading article on Page 10