Raju Bista, the BJP MP of Darjeeling, has alleged that the Darjeeling district administration is delaying the release of funds for two jobs for which he had made allocations out of his MPLAD fund.

In a social media post on Monday, Bista said that he had allocated funds for a road and for the reconstruction of a public ground.

“I had committed a sum of ₹50 lakh from the MPLAD funds for the construction of the Fanchaytar—Fedikhola road in Rimbick-Lodhama area, and I had made the necessary recommendations to the district magistrate’s office in October last year. Also, I had sanctioned another 10 lakh rupees for the reconstruction of the Lodhama public ground,” the MP wrote in his post.

According to him, the DM’s office had not yet released the funds.

“I am not sure whether this delay stems from sheer incompetence or deliberate political malice on the part of the administration...,” Bista wrote, urging the administration to immediately release the funds.

In recent times, this is the second time that a BJP legislator has come up with such charges. Last week, Shankar Ghosh, the Siliguri MLA from the BJP, had made similar charges against the administration and the Trinamool-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

Ghosh had observed a 24-hour hunger strike, alleging he could not spend the funds under BEUP (Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Tahabil) or the local area fund of the MLA.

The Trinamool Congress had accused Ghosh of resorting to theatrics ahead of the Assembly polls.

“It seems to be a new strategy of the BJP to exert pressure on Trinamool. The BJP is trying to drive home the point that the state government is stopping their elected representatives from spending funds meant for development, both in the plains and the hills,” said a political observer.

BJP meeting

The BJP organised a Maha Karyakarta Sammelan — a party workers’ meet — in the hill town of Kurseong on Monday.

Tripura’s former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, Darjeeling MP Raju Bista and other leaders were present at the meeting. The leaders accused the Mamata Banerjee government of neglecting north Bengal and spoke of their plans for development in the area, both in the hills and plains.