The elected head of Alinagar gram panchayat in Kaliachak-I block of Malda, Akhtari Khatun, has donated the entire amount she received for 24 months as a beneficiary of Lakshmir Bhandar scheme of the Bengal government for street lights for 800 metres of a road used by more than 10,000 residents every day.

Trinamul leader Khatun, who donated the money on Thursday, also encouraged her deputy and other elected panchayat members of her party to give away their honorariums for three months to raise funds for arranging lights for the other stretches of the road.

Khatun's decision has been hailed by not only the minister of state of north Bengal development department and local MLA Sabina Yeasmin, but also residents of Alinagar under Mothabari Assembly seat.

There are 23 members in Alinagar gram panchayat. Trinamul won 13 seats. The Congress and the BJP won eight and two seats, respectively.

Khatun, the wife of the area committee president of Trinamul, Md Obaidullah, was elected the head of the panchayat earlier this year.

"Soon after I assumed office, it came to my notice that the road connecting Alinagar to the Polytechnic Institute of Kaliachak was poorly lit. An 800-metre span of the road did not even a single street light. People residing in Alinagar and three other gram panchayet areas commute through this road regularly and face severe inconvenience after sunset," Khatun said.

"The panchayat was also facing a fund crunch," Khatun added. "That's why I decided to donate Rs 12,000, that is, the entire sum that I had received as a beneficiary of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme for the past two years."

Khatun receives Rs 500 per month as a beneficiary of Lakshmir Bhandar. So do other women beneficiaries of the state under the general category. However, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women receive Rs 1,000 per month under the same scheme.

"Eight street lights were fitted and each cost Rs 1,500. On the day I handed over the cheque of Rs 12,000 for the purpose, the deputy head of the panchayat and 11 other elected Trinamul members resolved to donate their honorarium (as panchayat members) for three months to arrange more lights on the road. I will also donate my honorarium (as pradhan) for three months amounting to Rs 36,000. Hence, we will all be raising around Rs 1.35 lakh to light up the road," Khatun said.

She also declared she would spend her honorarium subsequently for the welfare of her panchayat area.

"I have also directed sweets and food not be served in any panchayat meeting or event. Instead, that money would be spent on development," she said.

Minister Yeasmin, who received a cheque of Rs 12,000 from Khatun, said at a time when the BJP-led Centre was depriving Bengal of funds for many rural welfare schemes, Khatun had set an example. "We won't bow before the BJP. Akhtari (Khatun) here has set an example. I hope other Trinamul-run panchayats are encouraged by her generosity," the minister said.

Khatun's Md Obaidullah said he fully supported his wife in her decision to donate her honorarium and they were both foot soldiers of Trinamul who wanted to work selflessly for people in the area.

"We are inspired by Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee," he said.

Local resident Md Daniul Hoque also praised Khatun. "This new pradhan is different from the others," he said.