The Mamata Banerjee government has posted Arup Roy Choudhury, former MD of NTPC Ltd, as the state’s new principal adviser (infrastructure) with the appointment in a position that was vacant for more than a year bearing hints that the ruling establishment plans to lay special emphasis on infrastructure creation ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

“The position had been lying vacant for over the past one year or so. The state government brought in Roy Choudhury in the position in the midst of a pandemic even though he was serving as the chief commissioner of Public Services Act. There is a definite plan behind the move,” a senior state government official told The Telegraph.

Sources aware of the development said the chief minister was laying stress on taking up “small infrastructure” projects in her recent meetings with top government officials and district authorities and appointing a new principal adviser (infrastructure) appeared to be a step forward to implement the idea.

The state had identified several small projects in addition to some large infrastructure projects way back in 2017 and planned to invest Rs 18,000 crore to complete them, but dearth of funds had pressed a pause button on the initiative.

“Now it seems the government is ready to revive the initiative by taking up small projects with only a few months to go before the 2021 Assembly polls,” said a bureaucrat.

The state government, sources said, is aiming to develop several small projects like linking of small roads by constructing culverts and small bridges to improve connectivity in the rural areas, beside setting up irrigation facilities by taking up minor irrigation projects in the dry zones like the Jungle Mahal.

“The prime focus would be Jungle Mahal districts and north Bengal, where the ruling party had put up a poor show during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. By improving connectivity and irrigation facilities, the chief minister wants to ensure visible development,” said an official.

As a majority of the projects are very small in nature, these could come up in the next four-five months if proper monitoring is done.

“The principal adviser (infrastructure) can do the job while making it sure that funds are released by departments concerned on time by taking up the issue with top officials. The projects might be small in nature but these would have a big impact in the backward areas,” added the official.

Although the state government is ready to take up the projects without a delay, arranging funds would be easier said than done.

“It would require at least Rs 3,000 crore immediately to kick off the projects. I am not sure whether the state can arrange it at a time when its own revenue generation has dried up significantly because of the pandemic,” said a source.

While admitting that arranging funds would be a headache for the state government, sources in the finance department said they were trying to release funds for important and small projects by cutting down unnecessary expenditures.