Commissioner told to hand over land for new university

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Dec. 25: The chief minister Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has asked the Jalpaiguri Divisional Commissioner, who acts as member secretary of the Uttar Banga Unnayan Parishad, to take immediate initiative to hand over the land of the English Bazaar Block Land and Land Reforms Office, located close to the proposed site of the University of Gour Banga, to the university authorities.

The matter was discussed at the meeting of the parishad held in Jalpaiguri yesterday. The chief minister also asked the divisional commissioner to estimate the value of the building, which was constructed recently for setting up the block land and land reforms office, before handing over to the UGB authorities, said Mr Khagen Murmu, CPI-M MLA from Habibpur and member of the Uttar Banga Unnayan Parishad (UBUP).

“The chief minister said at the meeting that the UBUP would bear the cost for construction another building elsewhere for the English Bazaar BL&LRO,” Mr Murmu said.

It may be noted that in mid-November this year, while laying the foundation stone for the UGB, the chief minister had allotted Rs. 20 lakh for the development of UGB and assured that he would try to manage more land for the UGB campus here. Beside discussing the development of the UBG, the chief minister has also instructed the member secretary of the UBUP to ask the Malda district administration to submit a fresh project of the Laxmipur drainage scheme for allotment of funds from the UBUP next time.

It may be noted that the UBUP had allotted Rs.. 1 crore for the Laxmipur drainage scheme to sort out the problem of water logging in English Bazaar but the fund was diverted to Malda central bus terminus project after the implementation of the drainage scheme was delayed due to several reasons.

According to Mr. Murmu, the chief minister has suggested that clarification should be sought from the Malda PWD about the status of the Ashapur Bridge, meant to connect the northern part of Malda and north Dinajpur district.

The CM has expressed dissatisfaction over the non utilization of funds allotted for various schemes including the Ashapur Bridge. The Ashapur Bridge project was conceived a decade ago and the UBUP had allotted funds for the construction of approach roads to make it operational but it was yet to be completed.

According to the CPI-M MLA, the CM strictly instructed the member secretary of the UBUP to seek clarification from the district authorities about the status of unutilized funds allotted up to the 2004-05 financial year, and position of schemes.

No layoff, assures Buddha

Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Bhattacharya today said here that the state government would not retrench any staff despite the ongoing financial crisis. “Despite the financial crisis raging through the world, the state government is committed to secure its employees’ future and would recruit on a permanent basis instead of the contractual process. We have employed a record number of group ‘C’ and ‘D’ employees in the past three years which other states failed to do,” he said.