Travel address central, not state - CM chooses NHPC after tongues wag on uttarkanya guesthouse

(From top) The newly made Uttarkanya guesthouse, where the chief minister
did not stay on Monday night; the NHPC guesthouse where the chief minister
put up. Pictures by Kundan Yolmo

Not wanted: Bhashan (lecture) Wanted: Ration (food) Wanted sometimes: central guesthouse

Not wanted: Bhashan (lecture)

Wanted: Ration (food)

Wanted sometimes: central guesthouse

Avijit Sinha, TT, Siliguri, Jan. 20: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee last night stayed at a central guesthouse near Siliguri, not at a newly made state facility where she was expected to put up.

State administration sources said she refused to go to the guesthouse at the mini-secretariat, Uttarkanya, after talk reached her ears that the facility was being seen as the travel accommodation for the chief minister.

She ended up staying at the NHPC guesthouse, a property of the central government, which she attacked today at the opening of the Uttar Banga Utsav, while demanding release of funds from Delhi. " Bhashan chaina, ration chai (we don't want lectures, but food)," she said.

A source in the administration today said: "The guest house was ready for the chief minister but she did not stay there and even did not visit it yesterday. She was annoyed and said she had come to know that the guesthouse, which has been built for VIPs, has been projected as the chief minister's accommodation. This is why she avoided it and instead went to the rest house of the NHPC next to Uttarkanya."

The facility is yet to be named, and most probably will be called the North Bengal State Guest House, an official said.

The NHPC guesthouse is where Mamata has stayed several times during her earlier visits to Siliguri.

This morning at the Uttar Banga Utsav, Mamata railed at the Centre. " Bhashan chaina, ration chai. You can criticise us but why don't you feed the people. The central government in Delhi is holding back funds meant for welfare schemes," she said.

The new guesthouse on the Uttarkanya premises has been criticised by the Opposition as an example of reckless spending by the government.

Last week, CPM former minister Asok Bhattacharya raised the question of spending public money to build Uttarkanya and the guesthouse on its premises.

"The state government is irrationally spending public money. Around Rs 78 crore was spent for building Uttarkanya, where the tripartite talks on the tea industry issues are held sometimes. We also don't find any justification for building an accommodation for the chief minister on the same premises by spending around Rs 9 crore," Bhattacharya said.

Days after Bhattacharya made the charge, north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb clarified that the guesthouse was not just for accommodating the visiting chief minister but also other VIPs visiting north Bengal.

"It would be wrong to see the new guesthouse as an accommodation for the chief minister. The importance of Siliguri and north Bengal is increasing every day and we often get VIPs as visitors from other parts of the country and abroad," Deb said on January 17.

"This will be a government facility where we can accommodate the chief minister, other ministers, bureaucrats and delegates or representatives from other states and countries. Now, we need to book hotels to accommodate dignitaries."

A political observer in north Bengal said the chief minister might have felt it "inappropriate to be the first guest to stay at the new guesthouse. She did not mention it at the Uttarbanga Utsav today as a new government facility. If she had announced it, it could have seemed that the chief minister was mentioning or opening an accommodation meant for her own stay."

"Second, there was virtually no involvement of the general public in the project as the guesthouse is not for use of the common people. This is another issue which might have stopped her from stepping into the guesthouse," the political observer said.

"Opposition parties have already raised questions on the guesthouse. There was a chance that they would have again raised the issue, saying that the chief minister had opened an accommodation meant for her own stay."

The sources in the administration said there could be another reason why Mamata did not stay at the new guesthouse. "Some minor work is pending at the guesthouse. This might have made her security team propose that she stay at the NHPC guesthouse," a source said.