The residents of Buniadpur have been a happier lot since March 1 when the small town in South Dinajpur was announced as a "municipal notified area", just one step away from getting the status of a municipality.
When Buniadpur is given the status of a full-fledged municipality in due time, it will be the third civic body in the district, after Balurghat and Gangarampur.
According to a government order, Buniadpur, which comes under Banshihari block, would comprise 18 mouzas of Shibpur gram panchayat and three mouzas of Mahabari. Buniadpur is 55km from the district headquarters in Balurghat.
Although some Opposition leaders dismissed the decision as a gimmick ahead of the Assembly elections of 2016, people are hopeful as they feel the new status will bring in some long-overdue improvement in the amenities in the area. The residents of the area took out processions, irrespective of party colours, and lit candles to celebrate the announcement.
"We are really happy that the government has fulfilled our demand," said Bibhuti Chakrabarty, a social worker and the secretary of the subdivisional sports association of Gangarampur. "Buniadpur is becoming more important with its population increasing. The announcement has shown that we are developing and slowly transforming from an agrarian society to a non-agrarian one," said Narayan Mandal, secretary of a traders' body in Buniadpur.
"Buniadpur was included in the notified area authority on March 1. The SDO would be the administrator of the notified area authority," said Tapas Chaudhury, the district magistrate of South Dinajpur.
A municipal area should have proper facilities ensuring drinking water, concrete drainage, paved roads, street lighting and the varied infrastructure to accommodate its population.
Buniadpur has a substantial population of 50,000 and more than 50 per cent of them are non-agrarian, two factors in favour of the municipal status. It has four schools, general education college, ITI college, railway station, treasury office, SDO office and a court.
The residents want drainage, road connectivity and electricity supply to improve by leaps and bounds.
Trinamul, which took credit for Buniadpur's new status, promised more.
"The demand to make Buniadpur a municipality was overlooked during the Left Front regime. In the coming days, there will be a fire station and different administrative buildings (in Buniadpur)," said Biplab Mitra, district president of Trinamul and MLA of Harirampur, the constituency under which Buniadpur falls.
The move is expected to clear some administrative confusion as well.
In 1994, Gangarampur was set up as a subdivision, the second in the district after Balurghat, and Buniadpur was made its headquarters, though Gangarampur itself is a town. Buniadpur was chosen to be promoted as a municipal town in the future. This made things difficult.
"When Gangarampur was made a subdivision, Buniadpur was its headquarters though Gangarampur town is located at a distance of around 12km. So the subdivision called Gangarampur, with a town called Gangarampur, was headquartered at Buniadpur. The government offices at Buniadpur bore the name of Gangarampur. Since then, the demand of making Buniadpur a municipal town grew," said Ratan Talukdar, a headmaster and a resident of Buniadpur.
A section of people is sceptical. They do not think there will be much difference in the future.
"It is good to hear that we are the residents of a municipal area. But there are a lot of problems in the area regarding basic amenities of a municipal town. The area was announced as a municipal town with an eye on the elections next year because in the last panchayat and parliamentary elections, Trinamul did not do well in Banshihari," said Mahua Chakrabarty, a CPM leader from Buniadpur.
