Urban development and municipal affairs minister Chandrima Bhattacharya spoke in chaste Hindi at a programme in her honour organised by Marwari Sanskriti Manch, before switching to English and finally Bengali. The Salt Lake-based organisation was felicitating her as the first woman in charge of the department. She was accompanied by her son Sourav Basu.
The minister spoke of the online services introduced by her department from August 15 to improve ease of doing business. “In municipalities, we have introduced sanctioning of building plan in electronic mode in A, B and C categories. Three months later, it will also happen in D and E categories of municipalities. We will give trade licence within 15 days of online application. Mutation of properties is also happening in e-mode,” she said.
She lauded the Marwari community for their risk-taking attitude which was needed to do business. “Without investment, a state cannot move forward,” she said, praising CG Block resident Ashok Todi for his high turnover.
Bhattacharya was felicitated by Arya Mundhra. The 16-year-old, who happens to be the son of Manch secretary Aditya Mundhra, has formed a non-profit platform, called Charityst, with five of his friends and helped out during the Covid second wave. “The idea came when classes were off for summer vacation. We started by pooling in our pocket money and then asked around for donations,” said the CF Block resident.
The teenagers, including BH Block boy Arnav Choudhary, have so far donated Rs 50,000 worth of Covid medicines to two safe houses, one in New Town run by St Xavier’s University and another run by Bhattacharya’s Gariahat Hindustan Club. They undertook food drives in several slums across the city. Hygiene and sanitary kits were given out to 800 families in Duttabad as also elsewhere.