Salt Lake turns Puja hot spot

Innovative Concepts To Pull Crowd

Ajanta Chakraborty & Suman Chakraborti TNN

Kolkata: Priyanka Ghosh lives in Behala, which has its own share of high-profile pujas. But every Durga Puja, she reserves a whole day only to visit pandals at the other extreme of the city in Salt Lake.
    Her love affair with Salt Lake pujas began in 1998 when FD Block recreated Titanic. “Since then, booking an entire day for Salt Lake has become a ritual. We start after an early lunch and return late at night,” the 38-year-old homemaker quipped as she remarked: “I wonder if it will be Panchami or Shashti this time.”
    And, for FD block resident Simontini Das, it’s only Salt Lake during the Pujas. So, when was the last time she had gone pandal-hopping in other parts of the city? The 35-yearold shrugs, “Years ago. Before I was married and moved to Salt Lake. I have never felt the need to venture out of Salt Lake during Pujas.”
    Both Ghosh and Das — with their respective pandal-hopping preferences — are busy drawing up their must-see list of Salt Lake pandals. And the list doesn’t necessarily include F D Block. Pandals in the township have come a long way since the “Titanic era”. HB Block Residents’ Association secretary Abhijit Chandra vouches for that.
    “Initially, our pandal became a hit simply because we were just across FD. But now, our puja, all of 27 years, has an identity of its own,” he says.
    Little wonder then that planning starts months ahead. The TOI team found murals being conceived with care to depict Ram’s ‘Akal Bodhon’. “Ours will be an innovation based on tradition. It’s bound to be a major stop-over,” claimed Chandra. The concept has been meticulously worked out by Prabir Saha of the Government Art College and is being implemented at a cost of Rs 12 lakh.
    Concepts as opposed to themes seem to be the order of the day at Salt Lake pandals. The one coming up on the park at AE (part I) Block looks quaint with a 40-foot waterbody dug up. In the midst are scores of ladders in different hues. Secretary Supriyo Chakraborty explains: “Our slogan is Matir Tane Mati Mukhi.” The pandal depicts the ups and downs of humanity — the ladders symbolizing the struggle to stay afloat.
    “The best thing about Salt Lake puja pandals is high art within a mediocre budget,” explains Soumendra Banerjee, a resident of AE (part I) Block. “Among the 112 pujas (one in each ward), around 50 are exceptionally good. But the thrust is on character rather than cost. A lot of thought and professionalism goes into the making each pandal.” According to Banerjee, who once lived in Manicktala, “Most of pandals live up to the middle-class para culture which is woven into the ambience. No wonder, the average budget isn’t more than
Rs 10 lakh to Rs 12 lakh.”
    Painter Suvaprasanna, however, feels that Salt Lake has a “readymade ambience”, but it’s not quite middle-class. When I started living here, I thought this was a township for NRIs — far removed from the old world charm of north Kolkata. It’s tranquil against Kolkata’s vibrancy. More and more people are thronging these pandals for the sheer combine of comfort and aesthetics.”
    But then, it’s a competitive world. So what if it’s only restricted within the borders of the township. Every pandal is vying to give the other a run for footfall. The “concept” raked up by the organisers of BE East puja committee is “Shomoy Akhon” (time now). Into its 32nd year, the pandal will resemble a sundial showing the continuous passage of time. Budget? Not more than Rs 11.25 lakh.
    The “concept” for the Labony Estate Puja is innovative, yet topical. Although secretary Sumit Sarkar insists that it’s strictly apolitical, but Labony (in its 37th year) is recreating the four Vedas to trace ‘Woman Power’. Sarkar informs: “In the ancient era, women used to be emancipated and were reduced to slaves after the Manu-Samhita age. Our pandal will reflect the various stages of the society, culminating in the present when the woman gets back her freedom and rises to the decision-making level.” A recital by Ayaan Ali Khan will add zing to the Labony puja this year.
    CKCL Block — celebrating its silver jubilee — is erecting a pandal out of steel wires. Says secretary Dibyendu Banerjee: “The pandal is an abstract temple. The mandap has been christened ‘Pragati’ or progress. Steel represents development.” Another silver jubilee Puja, IB Block Welfare Association, plays around ethnicity, woven out of eco-friendly products like jute and bamboo. “Our pandal blends ritual, culture and tradition,” says secretary Partha Mitra.
    Finally, the fattest budget so far is attributed to FD Block Sarbojonin: Rs 20 lakh. The concept: Shaktipeeth. The idol: 14.3-m high. The pandal: a mountain with 12 Shiva Jyotirlingas placed on different spots. The showstopper: a Nataraj statue to the left .

(Clockwise from above) Decorations for the Labony Estate puja; the HB Block puja is depicting ‘Akal Bodhon’; the 14.3-m high FD Block pandal; the IB Block pandal decorations

Unused plots in Salt Lake draw govt attention

Suman Chakraborti TNN

Kolkata: Owners of idle plots in Salt Lake will soon be served notices, asking them to make use of the land, failing which they must hand over the land to the state. Idle plots in the township will be identified through a survey by the state urban development department. “Notices will be sent soon,” said department
secretary Debasis Sen.
    Those who can’t comply by starting construction will be asked to inform the authorities so that government
could delve into the reason/ reasons behind the delay.
    There are quite a few idle residential and commercial
plots, ranging from two to five cottahs, in Salt Lake. Many of these plots have become waste dumps over a period of time. Rules state that the urban development department can serve notices on plotholders who don’t start construction within three years of taking land on lease. If the notice isn’t replied to in six months, the plot can be taken back.
    The Bidhannagar Municipality had earlier tried to identify such plots but could not contact the owners. The Left Front government also formed a committee under then chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb to identify such plots so that they could be re-distributed. However, the move didn’t progress.
    Some senior Salt Lake residents recently submitted a memorandum to chief minister Mamata Banerjee asking her to look into illegal transfer and sale of plots in the township, a long-standing problem. “Plots in Salt Lake are all leased out. While plots are distributed for costs ranging between Rs 2,750 to Rs 5,000 per cottah, depending on location, a cottah of land is illegally getting sold from anything between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore,” said B N Chatterjee, secretary of Salt Lake Citizens’ Welfare Society.
    The state government
has leased out plots in Salt Lake since the 1970s to enable middle-class
people build houses in the township. Under the rules, all plots were handed over to leaseholders
for 999 years after which the plots would be taken back by the government. However, the government found over the years that many of the original leaseholders transferred
their plots. Most such transfers took place in the 90s. A number of plots and houses were illegally sold or rented out by leaseholders.
    There are about 12,000 plots in the township, out of which almost 35% have already been transferred or sold illegally. Besides, the government was losing lakhs from stamp duty and registration fee as these transactions gave the government and the local civic body a slip. The government authorities had earlier served notices on such individuals who had illegally transferred or sold plots. But many alleged offenders moved court.
LAND-ING IN TROUBLE
12,000^| Total number of plots 4500^| Number of plots illegally transferred or sold
    2,750 to 5,000 per cottah^| Original price of plots 50 lakh to 1 crore per | Price on which plots are illegally sold

Armed Salt Lake robbers batter 65-year-old woman UNSAFE CITY AND DANGEROUS SUBURB, CRIMINALS HAVE A FREE RUN

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Kolkata: A buzzing cellphone saved 65-year-old Salt Lake resident Sumitra Mookerjea’s life on Wednesday. But for the ring, she could well have met the fate of 93-year-old Shanta Bhattacharya, who was gagged by robbers and suffocated to death at her Ultadanga apartment last week. 
    Sumitra’s bruises speak of her ordeal — the robbers held a knife to her throat, hit her with an iron rod and slapped her without provocation. She could barely speak of the shock she felt on finding three masked men in her bedroom at 3.45am. Her husband, 72-year-old Devdas Mookerjea, was sleeping in an adjoining room in their twostoried house at Salt Lake’s AH-239. The elderly couple lives alone. 
    The gang brazenly made a front-door entry after breaking the locks of the main gate and the grille. “I woke up with a start. 
There were three armed men in my room. One of them had a gun. The other one locked my husband’s bedroom from outside while the third held a knife to my throat. I screamed for help. They tied me up and were about to gag me when I pleaded with them not to do so as it would choke me. I promised not to shout again. But one of them suddenly hit me with an iron rod. My knees buckled but he stepped up and slapped me,” Sumitra said. 
    The noise woke Devdas. With memories of the Ultadanga murder-robbery fresh on his mind, he feared the worst when he found his door locked from outside. Trapped and unable to do a thing, Devdas picked up his cellphone and kept calling his wife. “The robbers thought that some outsider had been alerted,” Sumitra said. Gang stole jewellery 
Kolkata: The gang lost all its bravado and asked Sumitra to show the rear door with the knife still pointed at her throat. “They fled through the backdoor but snatched whatever ornaments I wore and my cellphone,” she said. 
    Devdas said that the gang had dragged her from the first floor to the ground floor to help them flee. “They untied her before escaping. They were around 25-30 years old and spoke in Bengali,” he said. 
    As the news spread in the locality, relatives rushed to their home. North 24-Parganas SP Champak Bhattacharya and local Trinamool MLA Sujit Bose also visited the Mookerjeas. “A gang of three committed the robbery. The couple has provided us details of what is missing from the house. We are probing the case,” Bhattacharya said. The police videographed the house while fingerprint experts collected samples. 
    The robbery, less than a month after a similar attempt at CF Block, sent shockwaves in the township. “AH block is mostly home to elderly people. The police should be more active in preventing such incidents,” said Gopal Chandra Bandyopadhaya, an elderly neighbour of the Mookerjeas. TNN

BRUISED... Sumitra Mookerjea talks to cops at her home on Wednesday

SC cancels Left govt’s land deal with Sourav

Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN 

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday scrapped the Left Front government’s decision to allot Sourav Ganguly a large tract of land in Salt Lake on which he had planned his dream project — an international school with special focus on sports. 
    A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly allowed a petition filed by an NGO alleging the tract of land worth 44.9 crore was allotted to the cricketer for just 63 lakh, and that too in extraordinary haste and breach of rules and regulations. 
    The judges, who admitted they drew a lot of joy from Sourav’s batting and captaincy skills, clarified these personal impressions counted for little when the case in hand projected a wrong act. 
    Setting aside a Calcutta high court order approving the allotment, the bench said: “It is clear that the government made allotment of the new plot to Sourav Ganguly on terms which were even more generous than the ones suggested by Sourav in his letter dated January 19, 2009. Such action of the government smacks of arbitrariness and falls foul of Article 14 (right to equality).” 
    In a rap to the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee regime, the bench added: “The government was anxious to oblige the allottee by giving bigger plot that too with no loss of time.” 
    Justice Ganguly, who wrote the judgment for the bench, faulted the allotment as irregular and hasty. The apex court asked the cricketer to return the land within two weeks. 
    “Sourav must, within two weeks from date, hand over peaceful and vacant possession of plot no. CA-222 measuring 63.04 cottahs (a little over an acre) in Sector-IV, Salt Lake City (Bidhannagar), Kolkata, to the concerned department of the state government. Within two weeks thereafter, the state government must refund to Sourav, by a cheque, the entire money paid by him for such allotment,” Justice Ganguly said. Norms flouted in giving land to Sourav: SC 
New Delhi: Justice A K Ganguly of the Supreme Court said he was aware of Sourav Ganguly’s contribution to Indian cricket and had watched him on TV. “But as a judge, I have different duties to discharge. Here, I must be objective and eschew my likes and dislikes and render justice to a cause which has come before the court,” he said. 
    The petitioner had pointed out that in response to an advertisement for setting up of a school in Salt Lake City, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had received 24 applications. But it only entertained Ganguly's application. The NGO said Ganguly had initially taken possession of the allotted 48 cottahs of land. But later, he wrote to urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya pleading for additional land citing the ICSE guidelines, which stipulated that no affiliation would be accorded to a school set up on less than 60 kathas. 
    The Left Front government, throwing rules and regulations to the wind, rushed through the entire exercise and allotted him aplot of 63.04 kathas.
    The NGO had also alleged that to overcome the ICSE condition that the school management could not be vested in a single individual, Ganguly floated a trust, much after the allotment of land, for the proposed international school. The trust comprised his mother, father, sister, brother, wife and other relatives. 
    The bench said, “It is clear that Sourav is selectively seeking compliance of ICSE norms in asking for a bigger plot. In so far as other norms are concerned, they are clearly flouted as seen in the constitution of the trust set up to run the school.” 
    The petitioner had also challenged the allotment on the ground that there were two other English medium schools operating in plots adjoining to the one given to him. It said the HC had upheld the allotment of land to Ganguly despite the NGO mentioning the violations of allotment and affiliation rules in its petition. 
    Humanity had organized agitations against “the handing over of a plot that has been designated for a college in Salt Lake’s master plan to an individual.” The former skipper started constructing his integrated school project (primary to the higher secondary levels) on this plot in June last year. 
    The Calcutta high court had, in April last year, upheld the land allotment observing in its order that there was no arbitrariness in the state government’s action of allotting the land to Sourav. 
    This order was challenged by Humanity and others following which the apex court had issued notice to the state government on September 16, last year. The apex court also took an undertaking from the cricketer’s counsel on the same day, that no construction activities will be done by him on the disputed land and status quo would be maintained till further order. 
    Humnaity’s Arunangshu Chakraborty told TOI on Thursday, “The apex court admitted our plea that the land allotted to Sourav earlier was a different land. It was at B F 158 and measured 48 cottahs. There was a clause in the agreement that the government could change the location of the plot. The government used this clause and gave Sourav the 63 cottahs at CA 220.” 
    Chakraborty added, “Sourav’s counsel pleaded this plot was lieu of the earlier one. But the court pointed out that in his letter addressed to the former urban development minister Bhattacharya, Sourav had said that he would surrender this plot and apply for a bigger of a plot. The government would have made the fresh allotment after registration of the surrendered deal. But nothing of the sort was done. What’s more, Sourav had mentioned that the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination would not give affiliation to his academy unless he had a 60-cottah plot. Our counsel argued that the plot in question was not allotted in the name of the Ganguly Educational Society, but in Sourav’s.” 
    The original petition read, “The people of Salt Lake in whose interest Salt Lake City was established ... the rule of law which was deliberately throttled by the state authorities by way of distributing plots of land to many having proximity to political leaders without following any policy guidelines.” 
    (With inputs from Ajanta Chakraborty in Kolkata)

Salt Lake tax to be levied after May 13

Suman Chakraborti TNN 

Kolkata: Residents of Salt Lake had better brace to pay property tax right after the assembly election results are declared on May 13. The Trinamool-run Bidhannagar Municipality is waiting for declaration of the election results before it starts sending tax bills to residents of the township. 

Neither municipality chairperson Anita Mondal nor vice-chairman and Trinamool candidate from Rajarhat-New Town assembly constituency, Sabyasachi Dutta, would speak on the issue now, preferring to reserve their comments till May 13. 

The civic authorities had, earlier, said they had come up with a new property tax structure in accordance with the Bengal Municipal Act, 1977. It had also been decided earlier to collect property tax with effect from April 1, 2010. The Trinamool-led civic board is expecting the party to form the next state government, which would make it easier for them to get the tax structure approved. 

Trinamool sources said the civic authorities will start sending tax bills once party chief Mamata Banerjee approves the tax structure after the election results are declared. Civic authorities plan to discuss the issue with Bidhannagar Welfare Association and other stake holders before the new structure is finally announced. 
Under this tax structure, owners of residential houses will receive quarterly tax bills ranging from Rs 70 to Rs 120. If the civic body collects taxes based on the new structure, it will earn about Rs 1 crore each quarter. 

Civic officials, however, said they would lose about Rs 6 crore a year if they collected taxes following this structure, which prevailed in 1977. But, at least, residents would be happy to pay a lower tax, they said. The civic authorities reduced their spending earlier by not using cars and mobile phones they are entitled to. “We have been trying to earn revenue from sources like amusement tax and parking fees,” said an official. 

The property tax dispute in Salt Lake has been raging since May 2007 when the earlier tax structure framed by the previous Left Front-led civic board was scrapped by the Supreme Court following complaints from the Bidhannagar Welfare Association. Since then, tax collection has been stopped in Salt Lake.

A Rabindra Bhavan for Salt Lake on the cards

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: After years of reluctance, Bidhannagar Municipality has finally found a plot of land to set up a Rabindra Bhavan at Salt Lake.
    The bhavan will be set up on a 40 cottah plot in FE Block near the municipality building. The project was approved at a recent meeting of the municipality’s board of councillors. Municipality chairperson Anita Mandal said the dispute over the plot has been resolved. “The proposal was approved in our board meeting. We’ll now engage architects to prepare a model based on which the Rabindra Bhavan will be set up,” she said. The cost for the project will also be estimated.
    At present, there is the Rabindra-Okakura Bhavan, an Indo-Japanese cultural centre beside City Centre in Salt Lake. It was inaugurated by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the presence of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. However, there has
been a demand for a bhavan dedicated to Tagore and meant for research on the Nobel laureate’s works.
    According to plans, the bhavan will be a three-storey structure with an auditorium and several other facilities. It will display works of Tagore and there will be opportunities for scholars and students alike to do research work.
    The project was planned during the previous Left-run civic board’s tenure following proposals from residents that the township should have such a platform where everything on Tagore would come under one roof. However, since then, the project had remained on paper for various reasons.
    First, there was a problem with the plot that the state urban development department had given to the civic authorities. After measurement, civic engineers had then said that the plot was a triangular one and was not suitable for constructing the bhavan.
    The civic authorities requested the state government to reconsider and earmark another plot.

Civic move to achieve a clean, green Salt Lake

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: The Bidhannagar Municipality has launched its Green City Clean City programme in Salt Lake. Under the programme, the staff engaged in waste management will collect the daily garbage in the township and dump it directly in Mollar bheri, minimising the use of vats as far as possible.
    The Green City Clean City initiative has been taken with the plan to completely abolish the vat collection system. The workers engaged in sweeping the streets and collecting the daily accumulated garbage have been provided with gloves, masks and uniforms. The workers will clean up all the roads in the township.
    “It is a new system that we are now experimenting with and trying to fully implement for the entire township. Apart from the existing set-up, we are bringing five more garbage collecting trucks very soon,” said chairman-in-council (waste management) member Debasis Jana. The civic authorities will spend about Rs 15 lakh for the project. The authorities have in fact increased the budgetary allocations implementing the scheme.
    The workers have been divided in such a way that each of them will be looking after some particular lanes inside the blocks. The project has been launched from AE and BE blocks and will further spread to other areas of the township. The waste is collected from all the individual residential houses and there are separate bins to dump specific types of garbage. The garbage on the roads is also collected and put into the bins. After mass collection, the garbage is then dumped in the trucks that goes directly to the Mollar bheri dumping ground.
    Civic officials said it will take some time for the project
to be fully operational across the entire township. “We are trying to remove the vat system in this way which is more systematic in nature,” said a civic official. The old waste collection system through the vats will be steadily phased out.
    Among the other long-term plans of the civic authorities is to carry out tree plantation programmes, beautification and maintenance of the islands and the green verges that falls in between the blocks and to switch to solar power for the lighting of the islands and for the streetlights, particularly for the added areas.

A worker in uniform collects garbage in Salt Lake

Salt Lake streetlights may soon run on solar power

Suman Chakraborti | TNN 

Kolkata: Salt Lake may soon have solar-powered streetlights. After its formation last June, the Bidhannagar Municipality’s Trinamool-run board had submitted a proposal to West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) to install about 100 solar panels for use as streetlights in the township. 
    “The Bidhannagar Municipality has shown interest in illuminating 100 streetlights with solar power. They have also informed us that they have made budgetary allocations to meet this goal,” WBGEDC managing director S P Gon Chaudhuri said. However, the formal process is yet to start. 
    Presently, the civic body’s annual electricity bills for streetlights is around Rs 35 lakh. The municipality has allocated Rs 40 lakh in its current fiscal year budget to switch 100 of its streetlights to solar power. Civic officials said use of solar power is an integral part of the new board’s programme for a clean and green city. Regular disposal of accumulated waste is also part of the programme. 
    With WBGEDC’s help, the civic body has already installed three 250 watt sodium vapour lamps to illuminate one of the traffic intersections near the municipality building. “Each of them have been running uninterrupted for the past three months,” Gon Chaudhuri said. There are further plans to beautify more such Islands with solar panels. 
    Previously, there were numerous complaints that parts of the township were poorly lit. Residents complained that inadequate streetlights around Central Park, Karunamoyee and Duttabad had given a spurt to crimes like eve-teasing and molestation, making women feel unsafe to move about these areas after dark. 
    One of the new technologies that the state power department is planning to introduce in the city is the smart grid system which could also be applicable to Salt Lake. “For example, if there is load-shedding in one area, the smart grid will system will divert power from areas lit up by automatically switching off air conditioners in them. The offloaded power can at least run lights and fans in areas hit by load shedding,” Gon Chaudhuri explained.