The maternity home signboard at the Canal East Road address. Picture by Talat Salahuddin

Narkeldanga Maternity Home is a maternity home that exists only on the signboard.

It has neither a bed nor a gynaecologist and no baby has been born on the premises in the past 20 years. Yet the civic facility has always been known as a maternity home in the locality.

The “maternity home”, actually a civic “malaria clinic”, is in ward 29 whose councillor Subodh De is the mayoral council member (health).

The Forward Bloc leader has won thrice from the ward. He will fight the upcoming civic polls to be elected from the area for the fourth time.

The 4 Canal East Road address doubles as an unofficial office of the Forward Bloc local committee, said a resident of the area.

“The leaders think the people are stupid, so before every civic election, they put up a signboard proclaiming the malaria clinic as Narkeldanga Maternity Home. This year was no exception,” said another resident.

“Subodh De hung the signboard last week. Tell me what is the difference between a political leader and a cheat,” said Minu Parveen, who lives in the area.

For delivering babies and treatment of gynaecological problems, women in the neighbourhood either visit Lady Dufferin Hospital or National Medical College and Hospital, she added.

“Even the malaria clinic seems to be the worst of the lot. Though the scheduled working hours are from 8.30am to 11.30am, the civic employees and doctors do not arrive before 10am. If blood samples are collected, it takes four to five days to get the report in hand. Over 90 per cent of the field staff are supporters of the Forward Bloc. Hence, people cannot protest,” said Iqbal Ahmed, another resident of the area.

A visit to the “maternity home” revealed that it did not have the required infrastructure. The signboard put up on the wall of the incomplete building was, however, new.

The G+3 structure stands on a 13-cottah plot. The outer wall was plastered only up to the first floor .

Civic employees in the building declined to speak.

Several residents of the area said they had heard that the mayor would soon inaugurate the maternity home.

“Narkeldanga Maternity Home is not on the list of projects the mayor would inaugurate,” said an official in the mayor’s office.

“There has all along been a proposal for a maternity home. I have submitted a proposal for an operating theatre. It is a necessity in the area. The inordinate delay is because of the lack of pressure on the part of the civic official concerned,” said De, the mayoral council member (health).

“How can I take an initiative to start an operating theatre when the proposal has not been accepted?” asked the chief municipal health officer, Deb Dwaipayan Chattopadhyay.

Talat Salahuddin