Govt offers succour for two Mamata heeds pleas for water & financial help

Rajen Roy (in the middle) with neighbours at Paharpur on Wednesday. Picture by Biplab Basak

TT, Jul 12, 2018, Jalpaiguri: Mamata Banerjee has paid heed to a written request and an unheard plea.

On Tuesday, Rajen Roy of Paharpur had run along the chief minister's convoy near Jalpaiguri to hand over a letter to solve the drinking water problem at his village.

Anukul Kuri, who resides off NH31D near Fatapukur, had cried at the top of his voice as Mamata's motorcade passed by the locality on Tuesday. The tea stall owner was trying to tell Mamata that his daughter couldn't pursue higher education because of financial constraints. But the chief minister couldn't hear him.

Jalpaiguri district administrative officials reached the respective places of Roy and Kuri to assure them that plans would be drawn up to resolve their problems.

Rajen, who lives at Paharpur, on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri, had ran along the convoy and could give the letter to one of the security personnel of Mamata.

An additional district magistrate and the BDO of Jalpaiguri Sadar block, along with officials of state PWD, PHE and zilla parishad, reached Paharpur on Wednesday. They met Rajen and Rahena Khatun, the gram panchayat pradhan, and discussed the problem mentioned by the sexagenarian in the letter.

"We have received specific instructions from the chief minister's office. We were told to look into the issue and take initiatives to solve them. Accordingly, we visited Paharpur. The PHE department has been asked to prepare a project report for a drinking water scheme in the area. Work would be taken up soon," said Amlan Jyoti Saha, the additional district magistrate.

Such sudden moves on the administration's side have left Rajen elated.

"It is good the administration has acted after I submitted the letter to the chief minister. Absence of quality drinking water is a longstanding problem in our place and we hope it would be taken care of now," he said.

Also, Pema Sherpa, the BDO of Rajganj block, met Anukul Kuri and collected details about his family

While the chief minister was returning from Changrabandha on Wednesday, she had handed over Rs 6,000 to Anukul with an assurance that the state would take care of his daughter's education.

"His daughter Sanchita could not study in PG course due to financial problems. Also, his son Amit is physically handicapped. We will see that the daughter gets admission to the PG course and his son gets necessary treatment. The government will bear entire costs," said Sherpa.

Sources said the BDO had also promised that Sanchita would be provided with training in tailoring.

"Later, the girl can be provided with some loan so that she has become self-dependent and can help her family," said the source.