MALDA, Feb 20: The municipal affairs minister Mr Asok Bhattacharya, today held a meeting with officials of the Old Malda and English Bazaar municipalities to review their on-going projects.
The English Bazaar Congress MLA, Mr Krishnendu Choudhury was also present at the meeting. He urged the minister to implement a drinking water project based on surface water sources to provide for future generations. He stressed the need to implement the Slum Area Development Project, set up an electric crematorium for two municipalities, initiate a drinking water project collecting water from the river Ganga and review other pending works such as sanitation projects.
Mr Choudhury argued that the 15 km distance between the Ganga and the English Bazaar town would not prove to be a problem. The Kandi municipality was setting up water from a river 25 km from its treatment plant, he said.“We can lift and bring water from the Ganga through a pipeline. After treatment we can distribute it as drinking water. The project will be prepared with a view to providing for the increased population of this municipal area by the year 2040," the MLA said.
The English Bazaar civic body has proposed to set up a water treatment plant based on the river Mahananda. The MLA argued, however, that the water flow of the river would not be sufficient in the long term, noting that the Old Malda Municipality was also setting up a water project based on the Mahananda.
The minister said that he would discuss the matter with experts in Kolkata to examine its feasibility. Without permission from central agencies such as the Central Water Commission (CWC) or GFCC (Ganga Flood Control Commission) no one is entitled to lift water from the Ganga for this purpose.
The minister has agreed to look into the MLA's proposal to declare Sahapur, a rural belt in Old Malda, as a notified area for the future expansion of the English Bazaar municipality. n SNS
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