All that glitters is not the mountains

Manas Bannerjee, SNS, Siliguri, 17 January 2014:With everything seemingly in order, only one thing is keeping the officials in charge of the mini-secretariat, Uttarkanya, on tenterhooks. It is the fact that the chief minister cannot catch a glimpse of the Himalayas she is enamoured of from her chamber.

“We are a bit worried. Given her profound love for the Himalayas, particularly the Kanchenjunga, we wonder how she would take it,” said an official looking after the amenities of the CM’s chamber located on the ground floor on north-western side of the edifice. The chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in her Facebook post, has termed her dream project Uttarkanya as ‘sweet gift’ for the people of north Bengal.

Her chamber has been located thus keeping in view her security and the matter did not dawn on them till recently. According to the principal architect of the project, the chief minister will sit at her south-facing chamber where a television set and a canvas would be placed in front of her. The canvas has been set up in consideration of her inclination to occasionally sit with brush and paint-to draw.

“Security perceptions proved paramount when fixing the location of the chamber. But now it seems we should have taken into account the CM’s love for the Hills. We do not know how she would take things as there is no chance she would catch a glimpse of the Himalayas from her chamber. We are a bit tense too,” said an employee, doing the interior decoration for the chamber. “South-Western side on the first floor is suitable for catching glimpses of the Hills. But security gained precedence over the aesthetic satisfaction,” said an engineer.

Another hiccup seems brewing from another source. The mini-secretariat premises were extended by adding a patch of PWD land to provide for a vegetable garden, a lotus pond and a Green House on the western side. The locals are nursing resentment.

A local, Sushanta Karmakar who sounds confused over using the PWD land that falls within the area the proposed four-lane project connecting Indo-Nepal and Indo-Bangladesh border would pass through, said things are uncertain. “Maybe, Uttarkanya’s boundary wall standing on PWD land would have to be demolished in near future to make way for the Centre’s four-lane project,” he said.

He also raised question over the wisdom of squandering hard-earned state funds for the edifice whose potential to transform the region developmentally is not certain.

Notably, chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her facebook post said: “We had taken a decision to set up a Branch Secretariat in north Bengal as the people from these far-flung places have to come to Kolkata for many important works.”

“I am happy to share with you that new branch secretariat is now ready to be functional. It is a fully “Green Building” and built in a record time of less than one year,” she wrote. “I reiterate ~ fulfillment of commitment is our credential. We always do, what we say,” she added on the post.