Malda, Aug. 4: Left Front supporters today held a rally in front of the BJP-Trinamul Congress run Englishbazar Municipality to protest against alleged corruption of the civic body.
The five-hour demonstration started from 12 noon. Shouting slogans, the protesters charged the ruling board with corruption.
They alleged that the municipality was selling government land to promoters at throwaway prices, while imposing taxes on the common man. They also charged the ruling board with embezzlement of funds.
Later they submitted an eight-point charter of demands to district magistrate Ashok Bala and Krishnendu Chowdhury, the chairman of the municipality.
The demands included reassessment of all kinds of taxes and removal of anomalies, supply of arsenic-free water, expansion of roads in the town and improvement of municipal services.
CPM leader Indrajit Mitra alleged that the funds allotted by the Left Front government to the municipality have not been utilised properly by the BJP-Trinamul Congress combine.
According to Mitra, the government had given the municipality Rs 4.65 crore to fight the arsenic menace. But the civic body had used the funds to construct a market.
Dundubhi Saha, an RSP councillor, said the earlier Left Front-run civic board had bought three plots for construction of markets. But the current board sold the plots to promoters.
“The municipality is selling government land to promoters at throwaway prices, but does not mind imposing taxes on the common man at an abnormal rate. A person who had to pay Rs 30 as house tax only a year ago is now paying Rs 1,300. This rise is irrational,” said Saha.
According to the RSP leader, the municipality constructed a park in the town at a cost of Rs 38 lakh, borne by the government. But such is the mismanagement that the earnings from the park have not been deposited with the municipality, he alleged.
Denying all allegations, Chowdhury said: “It is curious that the CPM is bringing such charges against us. It was they who introduced promoter raj. The government had approved our plan to give the land to promoters for the construction of three market complexes.”
