Siliguri BJP MLA launches hunger strike over alleged hurdles in BEUP fund use
Telegraph | 23 January 2026
Shankar Ghosh, the BJP MLA of Siliguri, launched a 24-hour hunger strike on Thursday, alleging that the Trinamool Congress-run Bengal government and the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) were obstructing him from utilising the BEUP (Bidhayak Elaka Unnayan Prakalpa) funds or the money provided to an MLA for carrying out development works in his Assembly constituency.
“Unfortunately, the state government, the SMC, and some other agencies like the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority are working against the interests of Siliguri residents by creating every possible hindrance to the utilisation of my MLA funds,” Ghosh, who is also the BJP’s chief whip in the Assembly, said.
“Also, a section of the district administration is acting in a biased manner. Despite repeated communications, they do not take the necessary steps so that the money which I have earmarked out of these funds for developmental works in Siliguri is not utilised. That is why I am observing the hunger strike in protest,” said
the MLA.
Ghosh is fasting at the pedestal of the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at Hati More in Subhaspally.
Mayor Gautam Deb said: “If he wants to do politics, he can do it. But there are doubts as to whether he was at all sincere in carrying out developmental works in his constituency.”