Birpara (Jalpaiguri), July 30: With its area and population ballooning, this town in the heart of the tea-rich Dooars now clamours to be a municipality.

“We continue to be a panchayat, while towns like Malbazar and Dhupguri with fewer people have become municipalities. It’s grossly unfair to residents of Birpara,” Prasanta Naha, the sole Congress member of the Birpara panchayat samity, said.

The trading hub alone has a population of 30,000. But the population in the Birpara police station area is close to 1.5 lakh, Naha said.

Residents said development of the area would accelerate if it was converted to a municipality.

Ringed by some 25 tea gardens, Birpara, 65 km from the district headquarters of Jalpaiguri, comes under three panchayats, which, residents moaned, have failed to provide even basic amenities.

“Garbage has piled up on the streets. The drains are all clogged up and a downpour leaves the town waterlogged. Roads, too, are in deplorable condition,” said Nitai Das of Birpara Chowpatty said. “The panchayats have turned out to be completely ineffectual.”

Local MLA Kumari Kuzur believes that the municipal status would help urbanise the area. “We will have more funds for development once Birpara becomes a municipality.”

Kuzur, who represents Birpara and Madarihat in the Assembly, said Birpara was the focal point of the cement industry flourishing in neighbouring Bhutan.

“It’s an important area because of its geographical location. It is essential that Birpara be upgraded to a municipality. The area can be developed with additional funds and the residents would get better civic amenities, as in other municipal areas,” Kuzur said.

Local traders, too, back the demand. “Birpara deserves to be a municipality especially when the railway line is being converted to broad-gauge. The proposed four-lane expressway will also pass through Birpara,” Sambhunath Ghosh, secretary of the Birpara Truck Owners Association, said.

He said construction of a bus and taxi stands and a truck terminus would be possible only if the town was converted to a municipality.

“The additional funds that we would get after being accorded a municipal status could be used to build infrastructure. This would definitely solve traffic problems. The other pending proposals would also get a boost,” Ghosh said.

Naha said they needed funds to improve the creaking drainage system. “We also need a conservancy department. But you cannot have that in a panchayat. We have to have a municipality to solve the town’s civic problems.”

The panchayat member said Birpara could in future become a subdivision, especially if the state government carved Alipurduar out of Jalpaiguri as a separate district, a long-standing demand.