Kalimpong, December 09 (Siliguri Chronicle) – The Kalimpong municipality on Monday laid the foundation stone for a ₹196.97-crore drinking water project, setting off a fresh round of political point-scoring in the hill town.
The project, approved under the Union housing and urban affairs ministry’s AMRUT 2.0 scheme, aims to improve Kalimpong’s drinking water supply.
The foundation stone for the project was laid in Kalimpong on Monday.
GTA chief executive Anit Thapa attended the ceremony and said he was proud of Kalimpong municipality’s board of administrators chairman, Rabi Pradhan.
“It was proved today that I was right in choosing Rabi Pradhan as the leader of the municipality,” Thapa said.
Thapa said the project would draw water from the Bhalu Khola, a tributary of the Teesta, and supply it across all 23 municipal wards.
He added that the project’s funding structure included a 50 per cent share from the Centre, 45 per cent from the state government and 5 per cent from the municipality. The work is expected to be completed within 30 months.
Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista said the Centre had consistently supported the development needs of north Bengal. However, he also pointed out that the hill municipalities of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik were still not being “governed democratically”.
“It is most unfortunate that for over three years now, these three municipalities have been run by unelected, state-nominated individuals,” said Bista.
Elections for the hill civic bodies have not been held even though the tenure of the previous elected boards has already ended.
“This practice goes against the democratic ethos of our nation and stands in clear violation of constitutional principle,” said Bista.
The BJP leader, in a written statement, added: “I assure the people, when BJP forms government in Bengal, we will ensure timely elections to all municipalities and panchayats across our region.”
In Darjeeling, a ₹200-crore water project sanctioned under AMRUT is yet to take off, even though its completion deadline has long passed.
“Neither Bista nor Thapa is talking about this project, which was sanctioned in 2016 and is yet to be fully completed. Bista did raise some issues last year, but ultimately, the fact is that the Darjeeling project has not been completed for almost 10 years,” said an observer.
