Minister cautions LF-controlled civic body of flouting rules

West Bengal Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim today cautioned the Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality accusing the Left Front-controlled civic body of flouting section 73A of the West Bengal Municipal Law.
Alleging that the civic body has taken up a Rs 6.53 crore project to construct a stadium over the old Dhapa Ground without taking any approval from the state government, Hakim said "This is very much contrary to section 73A of the West Bengal Municipal Law."
"Apart from this, technical vetting by the Municipal Engineering Directorate (MED) and KMDA is mandatory for all big projects undertaken by civic bodies. But this civic body had applied to the state government for clearance in June 2013, even as the project was conceived in 2005," Hakim said.

The Rajarhat-Gopalpur civic body is also raising funds of about Rs 83 lakh annually by imposing 10 per cent development fees on the sanction of building plans, which the Minister described as contrary to the West Bengal Municipal (Building) Rule-2007.
Raising various other alleged irregularities by the civic body concerned, Hakim cautioned it of stern action, if it failed to rectify its way of functioning.