Civic seal for Jaigaon

AVIJIT SINHA and ANIRBAN CHOWDHURY, TT, Jaigaon (Alipurduar), Nov. 3: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee today said a civic body will be formed in Jaigaon for its planned development and committees would be created to prepare a report on a proposed township and also look into ways to tackle river erosion.

Mamata said the panel on the township, New Jaigaon, will be headed by the chief secretary Sanjay Mitra and former Jaigaon Development Authority (JDA) chairman Mihir Goswami will lead the erosion committee.

The decision to name Goswami and the chief secretary as the heads of the committees is being seen in Trinamul circles as a move to sideline JDA chairman Wilson Champramary, who was found involved in a sandalwood smuggling case and caught abusing an administrative official on camera.

Today, Mamata held a meeting at the JDA office and met a 10-member delegation led by Norbu Wangchuk, minister of economic affairs, Bhutan. She also held a meeting with bureaucrats and JDA members, including its chairman and Kalchini MLA Champramary.

"We intend to carry out comprehensive infrastructure development in Jaigaon considering its proximity to Bhutan. We... we want goods and passenger movement to be boosted through this town.... A municipality would be formed in the town. We will initiate the necessary process and expand administrative infrastructure here. An SDPO (subdivisional police officer) has been posted in Jaigaon and an SDO (subdivisional officer) would be posted soon," Mamata told reporters after the meeting.

"Development work in Jaigaon has been done without proper planning. To carry out planned development, a civic body and ancillary administrative infrastructure is the need of the hour," she added.

Referring to the committees, Mamata said: "A project report on New Jaigaon was submitted by JDA chairman Wilson Champramary. Still, we are forming a committee with the chief secretary as the head to carry out a survey and prepare a report on it. All necessary infrastructure, from education, to accommodation and sports facilities will be there."

She added: "Another committee will be formed with Mihir Goswami to look into the problems of river erosion and how we can combat it. It would explore water resources in Jaigaon so that the water can be utilised. The committee will also visit Bhutan for survey."

Champramary, who became JDA chairman in 2014 was named in a Union home ministry report in connection with red sandalwood smuggling. Before Champramary, Goswami had headed the JDA.

"The chief minister's move to give importance to Goswami by virtually scrapping the JDA chairman's project on New Jaigaon indicates that she is not pleased with Champramary. His alleged involvement in smuggling and a video where he was seen abusing an official over the phone brought infamy for Trinamul and the JDA," a Trinamul leader said.

Today, referring to the BBIN Agreement - a deal on movement of goods and travellers among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) - Mamata said: "We want to develop Jaigaon as a tourist transit point and we need to develop accommodations here. We have learnt about a drinking water problem here for which, the PHE department has been allocated Rs 15 crore."