Toy train launched at Siliguri park - Mayor says he was not invited to the inauguration

SOUMYA DE SARKAR, TT, Siliguri, June 28: A toy train service was launched in a park maintained by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation today but mayor Asok Bhattacharya did not attend the programme saying he was not invited.

North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb flags off the toy train at Surya
Sen  Park in Siliguri on Sunday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Today around 5.30pm, north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb flagged off the toy train named Doorantika in Surya Sen Park on the bank of the Mahananda river. Sources said the rides would start soon.

Around 500 people were present during the launch of the service funded by the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority.

"I have not been invited to the flagging off programme of the toy train at Surya Sen Park, which is maintained by the SMC. The NBDD (north Bengal development department) minister has not set a good example of courtesy by leaving me out of the event," Bhattacharya said.

The train has four coaches with a capacity of 10 passengers each. The train will stop at three stations in the park, Prathama, Kshanika and Punascha. The fare for the 1km ride would be around Rs 20-30. The rates would be finalised in the board meeting of the SMC.

Leader of Opposition at the civic body, Nantu Pal, Trinamul councillors and the commissioner of the civic body, Sonam Wangdi Bhutia, were present at the inauguration.

"It shows that Trinamul still cannot accept the setback in the SMC elections. It is more an insult to the people of Siliguri than to me as the first citizen (of the town)," Bhattacharya said adding that the park was established during the Left Front rule.

Deb refused comment on the matter initially. Later, he said: "I welcome his (Bhattacharya's) attack against me. But an official letter regarding today's programme was sent to S.W. Bhutia, the SMC commissioner. So, it was all official."

He added that although the SJDA had paid Rs 2.88 crore for the project, the revenue, which is likely to be between Rs 6 and Rs 7 lakh a year, would enrich SMC funds.

"The park has been neglected for long. When the SMC was being run by administrators, we at the SJDA took an initiative of making it a cynosure of entertainment. It is the state government's policy to help civic bodies become financially independent," he said.

When the Left parties won the SMC, speculations were rife about whether the new mayor, Asok Bhattacharya, would get co-operation from the state. The speculations were fanned further when Bhattacharya was denied appointment by the state municipal affairs and urban development minister Firhad Hakim and the panchayat and PHE minister Subrata Mukherjee in Calcutta soon after he took charge.

The relations looked better earlier this month when Deb welcomed Bhattacharya in his office at Uttarkanya on June 9 and both the leaders promised to work and co-operate with each other.

But only after a fortnight, signs of their relations turning sour started showing with the mayor reacting for not being invited to the official inauguration of an approach road to the fourth Mahananda Bridge on June 24.