New Town cannot remain under a panchayat, urban development minister Firhad Hakim said on Friday, clarifying that parts of the township have been included within a panchayat area because of some error.
Hakim said the error would be rectified before the upcoming panchayat polls, which are likely to be held in March.
The Telegraph reported on December 3 that a notification issued in 2017 stated that eight mouzas of Mohisgote, which included pockets in Action Areas IA, IB, IC, ID, IIB, IIE and III of New Town, would be included in the “Jyangra Hatiara II gram panchayat area”.
The notification, which was issued by the block development officer of Rajarhat Development Block as part of a delimitation exercise, came to light following reports on the upcoming elections. The notification came as a shocker to the residents of the township — dotted with housing complexes, hotels and commercial buildings — who started a campaign to get it evoked.
Hakim said on Friday he would raise the matter with the panchayat minister once the Assembly meets for the budget session next week.
“There is some error. The urban development department has written to the panchayat department that New Town cannot be under a panchayat. New Town is already under a development authority and people pay tax. Panchayat cannot take tax,” he said.
“There is a development authority for New Town. This will become a municipality later,” he said.
The New Town’s basic civic services, including water supply, road maintenance and solid waste management, are maintained by the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA).
“I have written to the district magistrate (of North 24-Parganas). He has submitted a report. We have sent the report to the panchayat department,” Hakim said. “We will do the rectification before the panchayat polls.”
‘Rs 8 lakh for each teacher job’
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday submitted before the court that a total of 130 candidates have been illegally recruited as teachers in primary schools and an amount of Rs 8 lakh has been collected from each of them by Trinamul Congress youth leader Kuntal Ghosh. He then handed over the money to the then state education minister Partha Chatterjee.
Ghosh’s defence lawyers said their client was innocent and could not be charged under sections of the Prevention of the Money Laundering Act as no cash was found at Ghosh’s home.
ED lawyer Abhijit Bhadra pointed out that the central agency has found a cash deposit of Rs 6.5 crore in his bank account. The court after hearing both sides rejected Ghosh’s bail prayer and remanded him to judicial custody till February 17.