Kolkata, May 17 -- Six BJP MLAs from Birbhum on Saturday raised three major concerns linked to the Deocha Pachami coal block project during a meeting with the district administration, stressing the need for transparency before work progresses further.
Suri MLA Jagannath Chattopadhyay said officials had been directed to prepare separate lists of those who secured jobs under the project during the previous government's tenure, categorising tribal and non-tribal beneficiaries.
"The project is coming up on tribal land, so it cannot happen that non-tribal candidates walk away with the jobs while the tribal community is deprived," Chattopadhyay said.
The administration was also asked to identify absentee landowners and those who had "suddenly" appeared on the list of land contributors linked to the project area. In addition, officials were told to determine how many employees appointed under the project are local residents and how many are from outside the district.
Chattopadhyay said future decisions regarding employment under the project, as well as the pace of work, would depend on the findings of these three lists.
The meeting also focused on improving civic amenities and public services in panchayat and municipal areas.
It was decided that Suri Hospital would be upgraded into a full-fledged government medical college.
The proposed medical college at Suri Super Speciality Hospital under the PPP model, planned during the previous government's tenure, has been scrapped.
Among other infrastructure proposals discussed were expansion of National Highway 14 into a four-lane corridor, construction of five new bridges including one at Tilpara, and measures to ease traffic congestion in Rampurhat through either a bypass or an overbridge. Chattopadhyay said there would be "no problem" in acquiring land for development projects.
The meeting also discussed streamlining toll tax collection following directions from Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
Officials from the land department, police, motor vehicles department and district administration would jointly announce that daily collections, popularly known as DCR, would henceforth be handled by the state government. The BJP MLA also said the district magistrate had been asked to prepare a model to supply sand at lower prices to poorer households for house construction, following a pilot project earlier carried out in Murarai.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.