Firhad Hakim, who is at the helm of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and a Bengal minister, on Tuesday apparently missed his works like Covid-19 combat in the city because of his imprisonment in the Narada case.
Hakim, who is the chairman of the board of administrators formed by the Bengal government to run the civic body, has been lodged at the Presidency jail after his arrest by the CBI.
“He said ‘I cannot do anything from here (jail)…But please tell everyone outside to wear masks and stay safe’,” the minister’s daughter Shabba Hakim told this newspaper after meeting him at the prison on Tuesday.
Hakim’s colleagues in the board of administrators said his absence could delay several projects that needed immediate attention during the pandemic.
“He is not just the head of the board of the administrators of the CMC but also a cabinet minister. The way he used to coordinate between the CMC and Swasthya Bhavan is not possible in his absence. This is a very critical time where his presence in the office is much needed,” said Atin Ghosh, a member of the board of administrators looking after the CMC’s health department as well as a Trinamul Congress MLA.
Another CMC official said Hakim had been active in the past few weeks setting up oxygen parlours, arranging safe homes and coordinating with clubs for taking up their social responsibilities. “The CMC had drawn up guidelines for the clubs for Covid management. Everything is going to become static till his return,” the official said.
With almost no sleep last night, prison officials said, Hakim took a walk inside the jail compound and had liquor tea on Tuesday morning. “He has been a little restless saying time and again that there was so much work waiting to be done outside,” said a jail department official.
Hakim, 62, who had complained of stomach ailment since Friday, was lodged inside the hospital ward at the Presidency jail. A jail official said the minister had categorically said he would not like to be shifted to the hospital outside. During the day, he spent some time at the jail superintendent’s room.
The other three who were arrested by the CBI on Monday — 76-year-old minister Subrata Mukherjee, Trinamul MLA Madan Mitra, who had recently recovered from Covid, and former mayor Sovan Chatterjee — were shifted to SSKM Hospital on Tuesday after they had complained of health issues.
Mitra’s son, who had come to see him at the prison, said: “He was in a critical condition even a few days ago and had barely recovered…A few days ago, we had lost all hope.. And today, he is subjected to so much harassment.”
Hospital sources said Mitra was on oxygen support.
Mukherjee, who has a history of multiple ailments, was on nebuliser support and complained of chest pain, sources said.
All the three, including Chatterjee, have a history of COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a hospital official said.
Hakim had almost broken down when he had been informed that the high court had overturned the interim bail granted by a special CBI court.
“Amar ki dosh hoyeche? Ami CBI ke help korini? Kano amar bail batil holo? Jeno Janata bhugbe? Covid situation mokabilar jonno amake appoint kora hoyechilo…Kolkata’s manush ke banchate dilo na (What was my fault? Did I not help the CBI? Why was my bail cancelled? Why will people suffer? I was appointed to handle the Covid situation…(but) they did not allow me to save Calcutta’s people),” Hakim said while he was being taken from Nizam Palace to Presidency jail early on Tuesday morning.
