KOLKATA: Darjeeling Municipality is set to get a shot in the arm soon as the Mamata Banerjee government is considering its upgrade into a full-fledged corporation. While, the Queen of Hills may get a mayor, the 162-year-old municipality will get a new status if everything goes according to plans.
The Mamata Banerjee government is considering upgradation of the Darjeeling municipality into a full-fledged corporation. So, the services dispensed from the unique heritage structure (constructed in 1850) are all set to get the much-needed boost.
Following the recommendation of the West Bengal Assembly Standing Committee, the state government wants to add a renewed vigour to the civic services of the Hills, which is attracting thousands of tourists now that peace has returned. But according to the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2007, a locality must have at least 5 lakh people with a density of 3,000 per square kilometre to be declared a corporation.
According to provisional figures for the 2011 census, the population of Darjeeling is a little over 1.2 lakh and the population density 16,206 per square km. The government will make a special case because of Darjeeling's topography which has scattered the population.
This apart, the Gorkha Janmukti Morch (GJM), which has won uncontested elections to Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong municipalities, too, has asked the state government for the "corporation" status for the municipality as that on the same lines as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act. For, a corporation status
would mean more funds for the civic body which is starved of funds.
Former municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya recalled that the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act was amended in 2006 to make provisions for the formation of the corporation in the Hills. "Six years ago, we had made certain exceptions in the law to pave the way for the upgrade. The legal provisions were made, but couldn't be executed because of resistance from the Hills body," he said.
Bhattacharya added, "Since the amendment has already been done, all the new board needs to do is pass a resolution and submit it to the state government. When a municipality is upgraded, it increases the status of the town that it is in charge of and creates more funds options. It also gains some administrative powers and the rights to make laws required to provide services to the area concerned."
The West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act was amended in 2007, incorporating a special provision in Chapter II, clause 3 (iii), that empowers the government to notify separate set of norms for the Hills. Similar provision was made in the West Bengal Municipal Act that governs the formation of municipalities.
The corporation status for Darjeeling municipality which was found in 1850 was first proposed a decade ago by the erstwhile Left Front government. But the proposal was shot down by the then Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council chairperson Subhas Ghisingh, who apparently didn't want a mayor in the Hills lest his powers were usurped. His resistance had also sparked a rebellion within his party in 2001.
On February 2, 2000, A K Dutta, secretary of municipal affairs department wrote (memo no 87/MA/)/C-4/1A-1/2000) that the state government was considering the proposal and a bill would be introduced soon. But the decision was deferred as the corporation issue took the Hills by storm and D K Pradhan, who was then the GNLF chairperson in the Darjeeling municipality and the brain behind the demand, was forced to resign from his civic post and eventually from the party. Apparently, Ghisingh didn't want Darjeeling to get a mayor lest his own powers be usurped.
However, a senior official of the state municipal affairs department said, "Darjeeling is a tourist hotspot as well as India's gateway, thanks to its proximity to Nepal and Bhutan. Now that peace has been established in the Hills and tourists are flocking like never before, the need of the hour is to provide better civic infrastructure."
The Mamata Banerjee government is considering upgradation of the Darjeeling municipality into a full-fledged corporation. So, the services dispensed from the unique heritage structure (constructed in 1850) are all set to get the much-needed boost.
Following the recommendation of the West Bengal Assembly Standing Committee, the state government wants to add a renewed vigour to the civic services of the Hills, which is attracting thousands of tourists now that peace has returned. But according to the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act, 2007, a locality must have at least 5 lakh people with a density of 3,000 per square kilometre to be declared a corporation.
According to provisional figures for the 2011 census, the population of Darjeeling is a little over 1.2 lakh and the population density 16,206 per square km. The government will make a special case because of Darjeeling's topography which has scattered the population.
This apart, the Gorkha Janmukti Morch (GJM), which has won uncontested elections to Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong municipalities, too, has asked the state government for the "corporation" status for the municipality as that on the same lines as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act. For, a corporation status
would mean more funds for the civic body which is starved of funds.
Former municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya recalled that the West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act was amended in 2006 to make provisions for the formation of the corporation in the Hills. "Six years ago, we had made certain exceptions in the law to pave the way for the upgrade. The legal provisions were made, but couldn't be executed because of resistance from the Hills body," he said.
Bhattacharya added, "Since the amendment has already been done, all the new board needs to do is pass a resolution and submit it to the state government. When a municipality is upgraded, it increases the status of the town that it is in charge of and creates more funds options. It also gains some administrative powers and the rights to make laws required to provide services to the area concerned."
The West Bengal Municipal Corporation Act was amended in 2007, incorporating a special provision in Chapter II, clause 3 (iii), that empowers the government to notify separate set of norms for the Hills. Similar provision was made in the West Bengal Municipal Act that governs the formation of municipalities.
The corporation status for Darjeeling municipality which was found in 1850 was first proposed a decade ago by the erstwhile Left Front government. But the proposal was shot down by the then Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council chairperson Subhas Ghisingh, who apparently didn't want a mayor in the Hills lest his powers were usurped. His resistance had also sparked a rebellion within his party in 2001.
On February 2, 2000, A K Dutta, secretary of municipal affairs department wrote (memo no 87/MA/)/C-4/1A-1/2000) that the state government was considering the proposal and a bill would be introduced soon. But the decision was deferred as the corporation issue took the Hills by storm and D K Pradhan, who was then the GNLF chairperson in the Darjeeling municipality and the brain behind the demand, was forced to resign from his civic post and eventually from the party. Apparently, Ghisingh didn't want Darjeeling to get a mayor lest his own powers be usurped.
However, a senior official of the state municipal affairs department said, "Darjeeling is a tourist hotspot as well as India's gateway, thanks to its proximity to Nepal and Bhutan. Now that peace has been established in the Hills and tourists are flocking like never before, the need of the hour is to provide better civic infrastructure."
TOI
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