Governor's intervention sought on Jyoti Basu Nagar issue

Taking exception to West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government's attempt to change the name of a township christened after former chief minister Jyoti Basu, left leaders and other eminent persons Friday urged sought the intervention of Governor M.K. Narayanan to redress their grievance.

"It goes without saying that the people as a whole, take exception to the attempt of changing the name of Jyoti Basu Nagar, by the West Bengal government," said a memorandum given to Narayanan by the Jyoti Basu Birth Centenary Celebration Committee.

The Trinamool Congress regime last month withdrew in the state assembly the New Town, Kolkata Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2011 passed by the erstwhile Left Front regime that had included a proposal to name the New Town area as JyotiBasuNagar.

Narayanan has already disapproved the dropping of the bill, while the Left has been demanding introduction of a new legislation restoring the name.

Hasim Abdul Halim, working president of the committee, claimed before journalists that the governor told the delegation that he has already communicated to the government that he was not in favor of changing the name.

"It is requested that being the constitutional head of the state, you would be kind enough to take up the issue appropriately and redress the natural grievance of the people that it generates," said the memorandum.

The delegation pointed out that the LF government had named New Town after Basu in recognition of his immense contribution in building the modern township.

HIDCO, a government agency which developed the township, took a resolution Aug 12, 2010 to name it after Basu, and referred the matter to the housing department which approved the proposal that was later okayed by the state cabinet.

The bill was then passed by the legislative assembly, but the governor referred it to the Trinamool government, which came to power in May 2011.

Basu holds the record for being the longest serving chief minister. The Marxist patriarch occupied the chair from 1977 to 2000, when he voluntarily stepped down due to old age.