PARTHA CHATTERJEE, Trinamul Congress MLA, Behala (West), met readers of The Telegraph at his office to answer their queries. Participants included Rikta Ghosh, Rajiv Guha, Soma Chowdhury, Sattwik Talukder, Avijit Moitra, Srikumar Roychowdhury, Abdul Kedar Babu, Goutam Halder, Amitava Dutta, Sanjay Chakraborty, Swapan Roychowdhury, Sapan Das, Sandip Banerjee and Kuheli Banerjee

Kuheli Banerjee: I teach in a local school. The quality of students in the secondary standard is not up to the mark and I want to draw the attention of the school education minister to the problem through you. Since there is no examination system in the primary classes, several students in each class are of poor standard. Conducting classes has become difficult.

You have come to me with a problem that concerns the entire state. I will raise the issue in the Assembly to draw the minister?s attention. I feel that the government will be forced to introduce the examination system in the primary classes, just as it was forced to re-introduce English. My party colleague Saugata Roy and I have been collecting data on the problem as part of a survey.

Goutam Halder: There is no blood bank in the area under your jurisdiction. Residents have to travel to SSKM or the Central Blood Bank in an emergency. Are you aware of the problem?

I am well aware of the problem. In fact, I lost a family member as I could not arrange for blood quickly enough. I had spoken to the government about setting up a blood bank in the area. But the health department shot down the proposal. The reason they cited was that setting up a blood bank is quite expensive.

I am contemplating a joint venture with a private agency to set up a blood bank. A portion of the money will come from my local area development fund.

The area is also without a good Intensive Coronary Care Unit (ICCU). A few years ago, a doctor wanted space on the second floor of Vidyasagar Hospital to set up an ICCU. He was not allowed to. I have requested the doctor to set up an ICCU as a joint venture, but he is yet to agree.

Amitava Dutta: The condition of primary health centres in your constituency is very poor. They do not have the infrastructure to treat major wounds and have to refer patients to hospitals.

I have very little scope to improve the condition of the primary health centres. I had visited one such centre, only to find that it had been taken over by suppliers of building materials. I even saw bottles of illicit liquor in the periphery of the health centre. Who will visit such health centres for treatment? Only a few yards away is a private health centre that functions smoothly.

I can only take up the matter with the health department. Unless the government tries to improve the healthcare system, the common people will continue to suffer.

Sandip Banerjee: Unemployment is soaring in your area. Do you have a system of providing some kind of dole to the unemployed youth?

I cannot sanction such a dole from my local area development fund. I don?t know if the MLAs have any role to play in providing unemployment benefits. I do not like the idea of handing out a paltry sum in the name of dole. Instead industries should be set up to provide employment at proper salaries.

Amitava Dutta: There is an industrial area in your constituency. But it has only one fire station with two fire tenders. Don?t you think that one more fire station is needed in your area?

We need more fire stations and fire engines in the area. There are about 5,500 apartments, in addition to residential estates, in the area and the population is going up steadily. If a fire breaks out even in the residential area, it will take a heavy toll on life and property. The civic body is undertaking a survey to identify the wetlands in the area. We have received complaints that firemen do not get adequate water supply while trying to put out a blaze.

Concluded