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The recent turmoil at Nandigram has had a ripple effect on the various development projects that the State government was to undertake in the last six months.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has not only stalled the setting up of the Special Economic Zone in the State, but he is also delaying giving clearance for implementation of various civic and infrastructure projects whose files are almost ready.

And it is the PWD, the Urban and Municipal Affairs and the Transport departments of Buddha government that are suffering the most as a result of the CM’s go-slow tactics.

Ever since the turmoil at Singur and Nandigram began, the three-most high profile departments – PWD, Transport and Urban and Municipal Affairs – handlings most of the development projects of the city and the State took a back seat. And in its place, the CM spent his time more with the home and information and cultural affairs departments of the State.

And the files sent by Subhas Chakrabarty, Ashok Bhattacharya and Kshiti Gowami began to pile in the CM’s chamber as Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is sitting on them.

“While the home department was put on a top gear to tackle the trouble-torn areas of the State, Buddha used the I&B department to churn out State government advertisements to sell making off industry in Bengal. In fact, many of the catch-lines were coined by CM himself,” said a senior official of the CM’s bureaucrat.
 
A rattled CM is also dragging his feet on the sewerage, drainage, housing, urban infrastructure and roads projects that are to be executed by the KMD and KMC. Since most of these projects are seeking funds from the JNURM scheme of the central government, and the Centre on a first-cum-first-serve basis is giving the funds, delay in applying means getting fewer funds this financial year.

“The JNRUM projects being executed by the KMC and the KMDA have been put on hold. As a result the flyovers that were to be completed this year in the city will now get delayed. Everything has been finalised about the prestigious Light Rail Traffic System, but the CM is unwilling to talk about it now. Also put on hold are projects like East-West Corridor, Second Vivekananda Bridge, etc.,” added the official.

Among the most high-profile that have taken a jolt is the processing of the Greenfield Airport with the PMO, the North-South Corridor passing through Baruipur, underground Metro connecting the two banks of the Hooghly and the 32-km-long LRT project connecting Joka to Panihati.

And with panchayats elections just a year away, it is unlikely that Left Front government would focus on developing the city projects more than the district projects that are also pending.

“The State government has planned various satellite townships and infrastructure projects in different parts of Bengal. Since the panchayat and the municipal polls are due in a year, it is understandable that the District Development Plan would get precedence over city projects,” said a CPI(M) State secretariat member. (EOM)

asarkar@hindustantimes.com