The inauguration of Sonar Tari phase-II. Telegraph picture

Santiniketan (Birbhum), Dec. 14: Decrepit houses, potholed roads, drains full to the brim and shabby hospitals: district towns in the state are easy to describe.

But the government, often accused of being biased towards Calcutta, is now trying to makeover towns to attract investors beyond the city.

Good housing is a key to making the towns look better and, for the government, the model of housing and infrastructure development being followed in Santiniketan is worth replicating elsewhere.

The emphasis here is on joint sector projects with companies like Peerless and Bengal Ambuja and the town made famous for its serenity by Rabindranath Tagore is now witnessing a housing boom. “Our objective is to create adequate housing as part of the industrialisation roadmap,” said housing minister Gautam Deb. “If the investor has to go to the districts, we’ve got to fulfil their requirements,” he added.

“Bengal Peerless Housing Development Company is planning housing projects across the state,” managing director of Peerless General Finance and Investment Company S.K. Roy said yesterday while laying the foundation stone of the second phase of Sonar Tari, a housing project at Prantik in Santiniketan. This phase will have 130 duplex units.

“We are conducting an extensive survey in several towns on the nature of land available and types of buildings required,” said the managing director of the housing company, K.S. Bagchi.

According to plans, Peerless will build a school and hand it over to Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan. “We have received the proposal and will discuss it,” said Swami Sarbolokananda, the Pratisthan secretary.

“Housing being lucrative, it is easy to rope in entrepreneurs,” said Somnath Chatterjee, the CPM MP from Bolpur and chairman of the Santiniketan-Sriniketan Development Authority.