BJP leaders have alleged that the Bengal government is spending money to renovate a private resort owned by a Trinamul MLA, on the outskirts of Malbazar town, in Jalpaiguri district where chief minister Mamata Banerjee will reach on Monday and stay during her four-day visit to north Bengal.
Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, has flagged a letter reportedly sent by an official of Jalpaiguri district administration to the state PWD department, saying that a slew of jobs need to be done at the resort ahead of the chief minister’s arrival.
On Monday, Mamata will reach the private resort of Dulal Chandra Das, the MLA of Maheshtala, who also happens to be the father-in-law of former Calcutta mayor Sovan Chatterjee.
The resort is located in Teshimla on the outskirts of Malbazar town.
She will spend the night there and attend an administrative meeting at the same venue on Tuesday where discussions would be held on the flash flood that had occurred on Dashami in the Mal river that skirts Malbazar town.
Eight persons had lost their lives in the sudden evening flood as Durga idol immersions were on in full swing.
Later on Tuesday, she will arrive at Kanyashree, the government rest house at Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the state statement located in the southern parts of Siliguri.
Sources said that on October 14, the additional district magistrate (general) of Jalpaiguri had sent a letter to the executive engineer of PWD’s Jalpaiguri division, saying that his department should take up certain jobs at the private resort in Teshimla.
Among these include the repairing of fences and installing view-cutters at the fences, lay paver blocks on a walking pathway beside a pond located on the premises, put view-cutters on the outer portions of the pathway and carry out bamboo mesh barricading on inner side of the pathway.
“In the letter, it was also mentioned that net-covering of windows should be done at the room where the chief minister will stay. Also, the PWD was asked to check the water pump, plumbing and provide furniture outside (the CM’s accommodation) according to requirement,” said a source.
The BJP leaders, who have time and again questioned certain expenses made by the state government, the recent one being distribution of one-time grant to clubs on the occasion of Durga puja, have flagged this issue of renovation.
Adhikari, in his tweets, has asked whether spending of public money for refurbishing the private resort is fair when the state is under financial pressure.
“When West Bengal is reeling under the pressure of financial insolvency and government is unable to pay DA, repair roads, generate employment, is it fair to waste public funds to renovate a private resort of TMC MLA Dulal Chandra Das, because the most VVIP guest of WB is going to stay there?,” Adhikari has tweeted, along with a copy of the letter and a video clip of the resort.
In his another tweet, the Nandigram MLA has again questioned justification of the expenditure, while asking whether such expenses are necessary at a time when public representatives allegedly face the chief minister’s wrath for seeking for funds for development work at the administrative review meetings and more than 30 lakh government posts are lying vacant because the government will not be able to pay salaries if recruitments are made in these posts.
Trinamul leaders in Jalpaiguri have rubbished the charges.
“The BJP is simply trying to play politics over the chief minister’s visit. The state government and our party have stood beside the Malbazar residents after the flood tragedy. None from the BJP could be seen. And now, they are raising baseless issues,” said Mahua Gope, the Jalpaiguri district Trinamul president.
The Jalpaiguri administration, too, has asserted that no renovation has been carried out at the resort.
Moumita Godara Basu, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, said: “We are not doing any renovation work there. Only certain steps which are required for security purposes have been taken.”
