Members of the BL Block committee at the AGM. (Right) Councillor Saswati Mondal speaks at the meeting. Pictures by Saradindu Chaudhury

The annual general meeting (AGM) of BL Block was held on July 27 with memories of the violence during their July 13 meeting looming large and the executive committee of the block considering resigning. They eventually had to be persuaded by residents to continue their tenure.

The AGM was initially scheduled for July 13 but before the meeting could begin, block resident and president of Bidhannagar Town Mahila Trinamul Congress Sragdha Chatterjee and her aides took over. “She shouted abuses at the committee members, called them thieves, demanded that the committee be dissolved and the AGM be called off,” said committee member Arun Kumar Roy. “When others asked her to maintain decorum she tore up the minutes of the meeting book and upturned the committee’s table.”

Chatterjee is a local ward committee member, nominated by Bidhannaagar Municipality chairperson Krishna Chakraborty.

After disrupting the July 13 meeting, Chatterjee pressured president Amal Kumar Das to adjourn the AGM and reschedule it for July 27. “She told us not to hold it the next Sunday, July 20, as she and her aides would be busy preparing for Trinamul’s Martyrs’ Day celebrations the day after,” said Das. While the meeting was held on July 27 Chatterjee did not turn up.

Voicing protest

On July 27, 71 people showed up. General secretary Ajoy Kumar Chowdhury read the secretary’s report and the treasurer presented the audited accounts. But when residents got their turn to speak almost everyone spoke about the July 13 incident.

“July 13 will go down as a Black Day in the history of BL Block. If such things start happening in a neighbourhood of educated people then that day is not far when MP Tapas Paul’s words will come true and women will start getting raped in their houses,” began a senior citizen Bula Basu.

Basu, like several others in the crowd, could not make it on July 13 but after hearing about the incident, made it a point to come on July 27 and speak their minds.

“My relatives would always tell me I’m lucky since my house is close to a market and park. But I would tell them that I’m lucky since I’m close to friendly neighbours. So I am extremely hurt by the July 13 incident,” said B. Sarkar.

Local councillor Saswati Mondal, of the CPM, is a resident of BL Block and she spoke up too. “Opposing something does not mean you upturn tables. Grievances can be addressed in a civilised manner. You can ask to see the books of accounts without calling someone a thief,” she said. She had not attended the July 13 meeting as she was at a blood donation camp elsewhere, she said.

Sragdha Chatterjee lives in BL 277 but is not a member of the committee. “Her mother is a member, that too a defaulter as she has not paid the block membership fee since 2000,” informed a committee member, asking not to be named.

Residents say trouble started brewing from the day of the Lok Sabha elections itself. “On May 12 evening, Sragdha came to the block committee and declared: ‘Ebar amra block dokhol korbo’,” said Roy. This happened several times after that and a few days before the July 13 meeting, resident Somnath Ghosh handed over a list to general secretary Chowdhury bearing names of 23 residents. “He told me that the existing committee was to be dissolved and that I was to announce these names at the AGM as members of the new committee,” says Chowdhury.

All this prompted the committee to circulate a notice among residents on July 12 informing them about the situation. They also alerted the police that they anticipated trouble on July 13 and then again on July 27, though the police wasn’t spotted at the venue on either day.

Resignation & persuasion

On July 27, Das, the president, read out a resignation letter on behalf of all 23 members of BL Block Committee.

“In the view of the July 13 incident it is clear that political interference is likely to continue in the committee, which has so far been independent of such things. It will thus not be possible for us to fulfil our duties with dignity and honour. We resign with effect from July 27, 2014,” Das read out.

Members said that their family members were worried that the situation was getting too dangerous for them to remain in their posts.

“My daughters have been calling up from abroad and are urging me not to invite trouble at the age of 84,” said vice-president M.R. Das, from whose hands Chatterjee had snatched the minutes of the meeting on July 13.

The resignation was strongly opposed by the residents. “The current board’s term is to end in 2015 and we residents are your responsibility till then. I urge the committee not to quit and for the residents to come together and work for the Pujas, which is round the corner,” Basu said.

Finally the board decided to reconsider its decision and after a meeting on Tuesday evening, withdrew it. “We are happy to see our neighbours come out and support us despite apprehensions of trouble erupting again.

The attendance was very high for a meeting held after an adjourned one,” said 77-year-old joint secretary Bidrohi Kumar Chatterjee, who was on July 13 referred to by Chatterjee as “Ei je buro”. “Despite the odds we shall now work for the Pujas.”

 

What is your message for committee members of BL Block?
Write to saltlake@abpmail.com or The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001