Karunamoyee, the “modern” bus stop in the heart of Salt Lake, was declared open by minister Firhad Hakim on February 28. This is not an advanced April Fool’s joke but the minister’s gift to Salt Lake during an inauguration spree before the election’s model code of conduct got enforced. 

Of course, residents who have been hopping on to buses from Karunamoyee bus stop since the 1990s, would beg to differ. 

With days to go before the model code of conduct would get enforced with the announcement of the Assembly election dates, politicians were in a scramble to launch projects in Salt Lake and New Town. Such was the frenzy that they didn’t even spare some projects that have been up and running for years and inaugurated them afresh!

The election dates — Salt Lake and New Town go to polls on April 25 — were announced on March 4 and the model code of conduct got enforced with immediate effect. This means that the government can no longer inaugurate or announce new projects before the elections. So the fortnight before March 4 was a busy one for local politicians.
They cut ribbons and lay foundation stones left, right and centre. But ironically, many of these projects aren’t new. 

Build once, open twice  

“We are re-opening Karunamoyee bus terminus. It is now modern and will benefit commuters,” said Hakim last week.  

His words confused commuters like Shantanu Bose, who say that to re-open a bus stop it first has to be shut. “We moved to Salt Lake in the 1980s and I remember the bus terminus being built in the early 90s,” said the resident of ED Block. “It has never been shut. How can someone claim to be opening it in 2016?”

Hakim says the bus stand has got a fresh coat of paint on its gates and that new signboards have been placed atop the gates with its name. “We have also given the terminus concrete flooring instead of the regular tar-and-pitch one. This will be more durable and prevent mud and slush from accumulating in the monsoons,” said Hakim. 

The urban development department had carried out renovation and repairs at the bus stand in May 2015 and installed high mast lights in 2014. A toilet complex was also built in 2015 and has been in use ever since. But all this was “inaugurated” last week.

In the same breath and on the same day, Hakim “inaugurated” Karunamoyee International Bus Terminus — that has been seeing off buses to Dhaka since 1999 — GD Island terminus — that has been seeing off the Route 47/1 bus for at least 15 years — and the one-acre 215A bus stand in Sector V’s AQ block, that has been in place for about eight years. 

Commuters will claim that only repair work has been carried out in the GD bus stand behind GD Market and 215A bus stand, near the Ring Road along the bheris, but the minister maintains that they are brand new. “These new bus stands will give immense relief to people. We have designed all utilities keeping passengers’ needs in mind,” Hakim said.

The Ring Road itself was “inaugurated” on February 29 despite being in use since March 2015. The stretch was in fact supposed to be opened by the chief minister last year but got stalled at the last minute as the model code of conduct for the municipal elections got enforced. So the authorities skipped the ceremony and threw it open to vehicles wanting to bypass Sector V traffic. 

But last month,  Hakim, Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose, mayor Sabyasachi Dutta, a host of councillors from Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation as well as officials from Sector V’s Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) “inaugurated” it. They also lay the foundation stone for the Ring Road’s beautification, despite the government having announced the beautification and construction of the road in 2012. 

It was also announced that a wetland interpretation centre would be built in Sector V. Again, this is something that has been promised for the last five years. 

“We want this area to become the gateway to the East Calcutta Wetlands and so we will build an interpretation centre here to study the ecosystem,” said Bose.

There were, however, a handful of projects that were inaugurated for the first time. Spots near Vidyasagar Island, Mayukh Bhavan etc. have got spanking new bus stops — glowing with backlights and beaming with pictures of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and MLA Sujit Bose. 

Sector V has got a few things to look forward to. “We shall introduce the unit area system of property tax assessment in Sector V and rectify problems in the system,” said Hakim. 

At present, landowners of Sector V are asked to self-assess their property and tax is levied based on their quoted figures, without NDITA sending officers to verify the claims. This leads to fudging of figures and the percentage taxed is also arbitrary. The new system would eliminate that. 

It was also announced that Sector V would get Wi-Fi connectivity and that its roads would get relayed with mastic ashphalt. “Most roads here already have a mastic asphalt top and the rest would follow soon,” Hakim told the February 29 gathering outside Godrej Waterside building that constituted mostly party workers from Mahisbathan and Nayapatty.


Cosmetic change 

• Karunamoyee bus terminus 

• GD bus terminus

• 215A bus terminus (Sector V)

• Ring Road (Sector V)

• Ring Road beautification