Three Salt Lake residents filed a public interest litigation (PIL) last week asking for Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to be split. They want Salt Lake to once again have a civic body entirely to itself.
The three petitioners have done so on behalf of Bidhannagar Residents Forum, a GD Block-based social group, that was formed last year. By design, the three hail from the three sectors of Salt Lake.
From AC Block, Sector 1, there is Amit Mukherjee, an engineer; from GD Block, Sector III, is businessman Gourab Ghosh, and from BK Block, Sector II, is Ashes Mukherjee who is also a former councillor of the erstwhile Bidhannagar Municipality.
“At present, the Corporation also includes Rajarhat-Gopalpur but that area has freehold premises while Salt Lake is leasehold. The latter is a planned township while the former is not. The two are like chalk and cheese, with different requirements,” said Ashes Mukherjee. “But of the grants coming to the corporation, majority goes to Rajarhat-Gopalpur as they have 27 wards while Salt Lake has 14. No wonder our roads are damaged, canals littered, street lights dim and mosquitoes are everywhere.”
Ashes Mukherjee is an active member of Trinamul Congress and said he isn’t going against the government. “We simply want the split as it is best for governance,” he said, citing the case of Bally Municipality, that was dissolved in 2015 and merged with Howrah Municipal Corporation, but was again re-established as Bally Municipality in 2021.
“Three months ago our forum sent a mail to the chief minister with our demand but there has been no response. We were forced to file this PIL,” said Chandra Sekhar Bag, a member of the group who is also the advocate pursuing the case. “Our forum isn’t registered yet so it does not have legal authority. This is why members had to file the case it on its behalf.”
On March 19, the writ petition of the case was filed before the high court chief justice’s bench as a PIL. “We will now serve notices on respondents, including the state government, the urban development department, the Corporation, the mayor, the chief secretary and the principal secretary. The hearing will be on April 10, when the court will decide whether or not to admit the PIL,” added Bag. “After filing this case, we are getting many calls from residents pledging their support. Everyone wants this.”