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Kolkata Municipal Corporation Caught Between People and Party

By sachiv1, Section News
Posted on Tue Apr 03, 2007 at 01:45:34 AM EST

Kolkata Municipal Corporation authorities are in a fix. They have set a precedent by scrapping the proposed indoor stadium at Deshbandhu Park, now Hatibagan residents want them to do the same with the planned takeover of the Laha Colony ground.

What queers the pitch even further for KMC is that the Deshbandhu Park stadium was the brainchild of Trinamul Congress MLA Sadhan Pandey but the Hatibagan one is local CPM MP Sudhangshu Seal's dream project. The Left Front-run KMC Board is at pains deciding whom to please -- the residents or their party MP.

Though the sports complex plan is yet to be formally submitted to KMC, a `deal' was recently clinched between a businessman and the civic authorities. The agreement required the businessman, who also owns the Laha Colony ground, to hand it over to KMC in exchange for a labour quarter at a prime location.

However, when residents started protesting, KMC decided to go slow on the project. Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya made it clear on Monday that the plan would be sanctioned after scrutinising every detail. "Residents have a definite role in choosing whether a stadium is needed inside the park. I assure them that we will check all the documents before giving our approval," Bhattacharya said.

Officials in KMC parks and buildings departments have no inkling of the project. "Nobody has submitted any plan for the stadium. We are still in the dark about the sports complex. All we can say is that construction of a stadium is not possible in any park under the Land Use Development Control Plan Act," said a KMC official.

Asked how KMC would bypass the LUDCP Act MMiC (parks) Faiyaz Khan said, "I believe parks are not meant to be encroached. We will go through the plan carefully and then decide whether to approve the project. We will honour the sentiments of local residents." Local CPI councillor Karuna Sengupta felt that no project could be undertaken in the historic, century-old ground without the local residents' consent.

He added that the process of interacting with local people will begin once the park has been acquired by KMC. "Once the formalities are complete, we shall take their views into account. The project will roll only after we are satisfied that nobody is unhappy about it," Seal said.

(Source-Times Of India,03/04/07)

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