WBIIDC apathetic to upgradation of Dabgram industrial centre
6 July 2010
Manas R Bannerjee
SILIGURI, 6 JULY: The West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIIDC) officials have not taken meaningful steps to upgrade the much-hyped Dabgram Industrial Growth Centre in Jalpaiguri, which started its career in the early nineties in sync with the industrial rejuvenation tempo hyped by the Left Front government in the state. .
When asked to explain the inexplicable apathy, the officials cite the fund crunch. Yet, the explanation is far from satisfactory, for even the basic things required to develop an industrial complex like drinking water supply, sewerage, street lights keep eluding it for the past two decades. The entrepreneurs who got enthused by the flamboyantly drawn plan look a depressed lot now. The senior officials of the industrial units and the members of the Dabgram Industrial Industries Association (DIIA) vent grievances against the protracted lethargy on the part of the WBIIDC mandarins. “Basic infrastructure for a decent living like sewerage, drinking water, street lights, a market complex are non- existent even after two decades have passed since the unit's inception,” they alleged in unison. “The road condition particularly during the height of the rainy season beggars description with gaping craters making it a perilous drive. To aggravate the inconvenience, the illegal parking on both sides of the narrow WBIIDC -owned approach road has become a daily affair. It is a veritable hell-hole for us, the entrepreneurs and staffs associated with the several units,” they complained.
The former president of DIIA, Mr Mohan Debnath slammed the WBIIDC authority, saying that it could not have cared less for the centre. “The condition of the main approach road in front of The Statesman office is awful. Everybody looks prone to passing the bucks instead of sparing thoughts to redress the accumulated grievances,” he said.
However, what the WBIIDC officials said seems to a tangled web of hope and despair. The executive engineer, Mr DC Mandal said: “We had readied measurements for execution of drainage system, street lights and for the construction of roads. We have sent those measurements to our higher authorities in Kolkata one year ago, seeking funds. They assured that they were trying to manage funds from some other sources”.
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