K'pong Civic body 'yet to walk the talk'

Nisha Chhetri, SNS, 16 January 2018, Kalimpong: A little over a month after the Binoy Tamang-Anit Thapa camp of the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) removed the Kalimpong Municipality chairman Suva Pradhan and installed Rabi Pradhan as the new chief, work on pressing issues in the town are yet to kick off.

The Morcha had removed Suva Pradhan, considered loyal to GJMM leader Bimal Gurung, for allegedly not working efficiently in the municipality, soon after the Gorkhaland agitation that began in June last year ended in September the same year. The Municipality and the town had to hear the brunt of the agitation and the 104- day shut down, when work in the civic body came to a grinding halt. Factionalism in the Morcha, after that, hit the same further.

The elected members then chose the new chairman and new vice-chairman, Bhim Agarwal, on 14 December, after Suva Pradhan finally resigned.

Suva Pradhan was accused of not working efficiently, but the new set of people in the civic body has done nothing until now, except for installing some LED street lamps of 45 Watts around the town," said Ankit Das, a resident of Main Road in the town.

-The drains in front of Cyber-Infotech are clogged for the past many weeks now, while the gully has not been cleaned since months," he said, and even shared photos of the dirty gully with this correspondent.

Mr Agarwal, the vice-chairman of the municipality, said the civic body has been focusing more on the street lights for now.

Another resident of the town, who requested anonymity, said, "Suva Pradhan was an educated man, while the civic offices were closed for three months because of the agitation. He didn't get a chance to work." Sources at the Municipality said they will now work on the traffic and parking in Kalimpong town, which are apparently in bad shape. They also said that the municipality is reeling under a shortage of funds presently "We have met the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and the Regional Transport Officer and talked about traffic problems. We will meet the drivers' unions soon. Resolving the problems may take some time," Mr Agarwal said. He added that they will also work to solve the water crisis in the town.

The chairman, Rabi Pradhan, meanwhile, said it is too early to comment on the municipality's work, as they have just submitted the list of projects to be taken up by the government.

'We have recently submitted the list to the government, and we are expecting a positive response. We are trying to hire more people as we are not able to work on waste management. Moreover, the operator of the waste disposal plant was arrested during the agitation, and labourers who segregate the waste also left at the same time. We will work on them soon," Mr Pradhan said.

However, residents said the civic body has not been able to walk the talk and has failed to deliver even when it comes to the basic services.

"I, along with some of my friends, had collected waste like tree twigs, papers, polythene bags strewn all over the road near my house and piled them up at the sides of the road some one month ago. The same pile lies there now" said a resident of ward-23 near East Main Road.

"The projects to be approved by the government are good, but the civic body should first ensure basic services like garbage lifting and clearing of the clogged drains, he said, adding that the last time he saw someone lifting garbage in his ward was more than a month ago.