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TMC mayor accuses Bengal govt of stopping development work for politics
This has stoked speculations that Jitendra Tiwari, who is also the local legislator and a TMC heavyweight, may leave the party in the run-up to the crucial assembly polls due in about five months
Jitendra Tiwari, the outgoing mayor of Asansol in Bengal’s West Burdwan district, has accused the Trinamool Congress government of not letting the city receive funds to the tune of Rs2,000 crore from the Centre under the Smart City project because of political reasons.
This has caused major embarrassment for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in a region where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won two adjacent Lok Sabha seats in 2019. This sudden development has also stoked speculations that Tiwari, who is also the local legislator and a TMC heavyweight , may leave the party in the run-up to the crucial assembly polls due in about five months. The party has called Tiwari for an internal meeting on Tuesday evening and the latter has confirmed he will attend it.
In his letter to urban development minister Firhad Hakin on Sunday, Tiwali wrote,“…I am very aggrieved to state that our city was chosen by the Ministry of urban development, Government of India, under Smart City Mission project which if allowed by you, could have received funds amounting Rs2,000 crore which would be very crucial for development of the city.”
“… due to political reasons we were not allowed to get benefits of it by the state government,” Tiwari said in the letter which was marked confidential but got leaked to the media on Monday morning. HT has seen the letter.
Tiwari also expressed his displeasure over funds not being provided for a number of local projects, such as Prince Dwaraknath Thakur Town Hall in Raniganj, renovation of the town hall at Jamuria and several roads in Asansol, Burnpur, Kulti, Jamuria and Raniganj.
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“Asansol was chosen under this (Smart City) project as a result of tremendous work effort of councillors and the entire team of AMC (Asansol Municipal Corporation) but due to political reasons, we were not allowed to get the benefits of this project,” he wrote.
“It was promised that funds will be made available by the state government for overall development of this city but it was not done. Similarly, under the solid waste management project, Asansol city could have received another Rs1500 crore from the Centre...but you and your department have not allowed us to get the benefits of these Central Government funds due to which I feel that Injustice has been made to the City of Asansol,” wrote the outgoing mayor.
Union minister of state Babul Supriyo is the MP from Asansol while the adjacent Bardhaman-Durgapur seat is represented by another Union minister of state, SS Ahluwalia. The region has a sizeable non-Bengali speaking as well as Muslim population. Asansol is the second biggest city in south Bengal after Kolkata. It is located in the state’s biggest industrial and coal mining belt.
“Policies are decided by legislators and he (Tiwari) is one of them. He should have discussed the matter with me. Writing this letter was not the right thing to do. If he wants to leave the party he is free to do so. But I believe he will stay. The BJP is misguiding some people,” minister Hakim said in Kolkata.
He claimed Tiwari was not available on the phone. “I called up Tiwari twice but could not reach him,” he added.
On Asansol being picked for the Smart City project, MP Babul Supriyo told a local news channel, “I was the Union minister of state for urban development when I chose Asansol for the Smart City project because it is the second highest revenue generator after Kolkata. I wrote to Mamata Banerjee. She never replied.”
He said Tiwari has shown courage by writing the letter. “I wrote many letters to Firhad Hakim on this issue. He, too, never replied to any of them. Asansol has been badly deprived. The only work the local civic body has is to put up hoardings of Mamata Banerjee,” he said.
Tiwari, on his part, did not take kindly to his letter being leaked. “I have no idea how the letter got leaked. We have to live in Asansol and are answerable to the people. Hakim does not love Mamata Banerjee more than we do. I fight the BJP on the field every day. He should not be talking about the TMC’s doors being open for people to leave. This was a confidential letter. How was it leaked?” he asked.
A BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said, “Tiwari has expressed the grievance of common people. If he wants to join the BJP, we will welcome him. We also keep saying that Mamata Banerjee has deprived the state of Central funds worth thousands of crores of rupees.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, Tiwari also wrote to the higher education department that he would like to resign from the governing body of two local colleges.
