Siliguri mayor fires work salvo at BJP legislators on infrastructure delays
Telegraph | 10 February 2026
Mayor Gautam Deb criticised BJP MPs and MLAs of the region on Monday, accusing them of failing to undertake development projects despite having access to substantial development funds.
“The MLAs of Siliguri and Dabgram–Fulbari and the BJP MP of Jalpaiguri often claim that development projects could not be taken up due to lack of land. I want to ask them how many development plans they have actually submitted so far to the district administration,” said Deb.
He was talking to newspersons on the sidelines of an event organised by the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) at Sahudangi on the outskirts of Siliguri but within Jalpaiguri district limits.
On Monday, the SJDA handed over “Boitarani”, the renovated electric crematorium at Sahudangi, to the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. From now on, the civic body will maintain the crematorium, said sources.
Deb, who was elected consecutively from the Dabgram–Fulbari Assembly constituency, which comprises 14 wards of Siliguri and four contiguous panchayats of the Rajganj block of Jalpaiguri in 2011 and 2016, but lost to the BJP in 2021, highlighted the development work undertaken when he was a state minister.
A road connecting Don Bosco More in Siliguri to Jalpaiguri was constructed, followed by four-laning of a 10-kilometre-long stretch of Eastern Bypass at a cost of ₹53 crore, he said.
He also stated that for the first time, the state PWD would install street lights along the bypass, spending ₹3 crore.
Deb alleged that Jayanta Roy, the BJP MP, even after receiving around ₹30 crore under the MPLAD fund during his tenure, had not utilised the amount for development. “They (BJP leaders) only make tall promises like the Varanasi–Siliguri superfast rail connectivity or underground railway projects, instead of carrying out basic infrastructural development works,” he said.
The assertion from the mayor, a veteran Trinamool leader of north Bengal, follows recent accusations by some BJP legislators, including Siliguri MLA Shankar Ghosh, that they could not spend funds meant for development works in their constituencies because the state government and the district administration did not "cooperate" with them.
Political observers noted that with the Assembly elections around the corner, mayor Deb and his party were focusing on Dabgram-Fulbari and wanted to wrest the Assembly constituency from the BJP.
Dilip Dugar, the chairman of SJDA, said that not only had the crematorium been renovated, separate toilet blocks had also been constructed at the site.
“Sound systems and drinking water facilities will also be installed at the site shortly,” he said.