A large part of Santiniketan and adjoining Prantik — weekend and holiday destinations for thousands of Calcuttans — have been brought under the jurisdiction of Bolpur municipality, bringing loud cheers among the residents as it promises to offer them better amenities.
The inclusion of the areas in the municipal jurisdiction through a notification on Monday, officials said, would rid the residents of their pet peeves of lack of street lights, irregular disposal of garbage and improper connectivity.
Till now, those areas had been under Ruppur gram panchayat or the Sriniketan Santiniketan Development Authority, none of which have the required infrastructure to offer amenities.
“We have included many areas adjacent to Santiniketan and Prantik in the jurisdiction of the Bolpur municipality. The residents of the areas would now get civic amenities from this year,” Birbhum district magistrate Moumita Godara Basu said.
Sources said the Bengal urban development department had recommended to the state election commission the inclusion of extra areas in Bolpur. Based on the proposal, the poll panel conducted delimitation of Bolpur’s wards ahead of civic elections.
As per the notification of delimitation issued by the district magistrate, areas like Prantik, Fuldanga, Goalpara, Banerpukur Danga, Shyambati, Ratanpally, Simanta Pally and Baganpara — all adjacent to the Visva-Bharati Campus in Santiniketan — would be merged with Bolpur municipality.
“However, there is an option for residents to lodge objections with the commission against the proposed delimitation and the same could be taken up for consideration if they were found to be valid,” said the DM.
A resident of Prantik said its landscape had changed rapidly since the SSDA had developed a township in the area in the early 2000’s.
“Many people from Calcutta bought homes or land in the township. Later on, Prantik’s adjoining areas had also witnessed mushrooming of housing units. All these areas now need basic civic facilities, which can’t be provided by a gram panchayat or the SSDA because of lack of infrastructure,” the resident added.
Sources said a proposal to include the areas in the Bolpur municipality had been sent to state urban development department in 2012 following an initiative by Bolpur MLA and state fisheries minister Chandranath Sinha.
Officials said after careful considerations, the government had agreed to bring the areas under the jurisdiction of the civic body. “The residents had complaints for long that they were being deprived of civic amenities. We will try to offer better civic amenities,” said Sushanta Bhakat, chairman of the Trinamul-run Bolpur municipality.
Residents of the areas have welcomed the decision.
“We were frustrated with the absence of basic civic amenities like roads, street lights and garbage disposal. We now hope these problems would be resolved. We welcome the decision,” said Oindrila Sen, a 78-year-old retired principal of a Calcutta-based English medium school, who had built her home at Prantik 20 years ago.
Areas like Simanta Pally, Bagan Para, Jambuni, Rabindra Pally and Rathindra Pally would be brought under Bolpur municipality and they would fall in ward 20.
The ward 20 would include three tribal hamlets — Pearson Pally, Balipara and Kaliganj — set up on Visva-Bharati’s land during the time of Rabindranath Tagore.
Areas like Shyambati, Fuldanga, Ratan Pally, Abanpally and Sri Pally would form ward 21, while Prantik, Goalpara, Sonajhuri Pally and Banerpukurdanga would be in ward 22.