District planning committee has not enough members

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 21 SEPT: The district planning committee, which looks after the development of the districts has not been formed properly here.

The state government could not nominate its members in the Malda district planning committee (DPC) due to difference of opinion between the chairman of the DPC and the Left Front district leaders.

At present the DPC is running without six nominated members since last year, ignoring guidelines of the government and the norms of the DPC.

Though the district magistrate had sent a list of more than six members demanded by the Congress and the LF leaders, the government could not take a final decision due to the difference of opinion among political leaders here.

Out of six members, the LF demanded initially five members and offered only one member for the Congress.

But the chairman of the DPC, Mrs Sabina Yeasmin, also sabhadhipati of Malda Zilla Parishad, was determined to propose three members from their party.

When the LF leaders agreed to accept only two Congress members as members of the DPC, the chairman had submitted three names to the district magistrate.

The Congress leaders were Mr Krishnendu Choudhury, MLA English Bazaar, Mr Narendranath Tiwari, chairman of the English Bazaar Municipality, and Mr Asit Bose, a Congress leader and senior member of the lawyers’ association at the state level.

Interestingly, the LF had submitted a panel of six persons to the district magistrate for nomination including one Congress leader Mr Tiwari.

Finding no alternative the district magistrate Mr Sridhar Ghosh had sent all names to the government but no one has been finalised yet.

After selection of chairman of the DPC last year, it has convened only two meetings.

The chairman of DPC Mrs Sabina Yeasmin said: “Following code of conduct, due to by-poll in Sujapur and Lok Sabha poll, meetings have not been convened regularly”.