Together for a Siliguri cause

SNS Siliguri, | 18 August, 2015, Despite his busy schedule, North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb on Monday watched a Powerpoint presentation with his once confidant Arabinda Ghosh (Amu da).

Deb left for Kolkata on Monday by air after watching the presentation on garbage management at the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority office here.

Ghosh, who is an Independent councillor in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), had snapped ties with minister Deb and extended support to the Left Front when it formed the SMC board under Asok Bhattacharya.

"I just watched the Powerpoint presentation on garbage management. Amu-da has invited Maley to visit Siliguri and he has sought suggestions from him for garbage management here. Since we are also interested in introducing proper garbage management here and make Siliguri green, I agreed to interact with Maley, who is an expert in 'greenfield,'" said Deb.

"In fact, the Corporation alone is in no position to implement a proper garbage management system. In the interest of Siliguri, both the SJDA and the North Bengal Development Department (NBDD) will also take part in this project by extending financial support to make Siliguri clean and green," Deb said. It may be noted that SR Maley, a Mumbaibased senior technical advisor associated with a private organisation, was here and he visited the garbage dumping grounds.

According to Maley, the estimated cost of the garbage management system will be Rs.90 crore.

"The project may be implemented here successfully within 18 months. The existing land is sufficient enough," said Maley, who criticized the present system of garbage management in Siliguri.

Asked to comment, Arabinda Ghosh said: "I was moved watching Maley's work on garbage management. I decided to contact him and invited him here because my dream is to introduce a proper garbage management system."

"I don't bother about criticism over relations with Gautam Deb. The Powerpoint presentation will be arranged in the SMC too. I have decided to take up a collective initiative for garbage management in Siliguri," Ghosh said. (shared by KalimNews in http://kalimpongonlinenews.blogspot.com/2015/08/together-for-siliguri-cause.html  and http://kalimpongnews.net/2015/08/18/siliguri/ )