Medical College upgrade in limbo

KOLKATA: Does it take years for an already existing hospital of repute to get upgraded to the level of AIIMS? Medical College and Hospital Calcutta (MCHC), the oldest hospital in Asia, is being improved for the past five years but it is yet to take shape. If this be the rate of progress, the dream project cannot be completed in the next couple of years.

How many years does it take for an already existing hospital of repute to get transformed into the lines of AIIMS? Medical College and Hospital Calcutta (MCHC), the oldest hospital in Asia, is undergoing the transition for over five years now and counting. Going by the snail paced progress of the dream project, it might take years for the project to see the light.

There, however, was a spark flicker of hope when the Trinamool Congress came to power at the state about 10 months back. The hospital expected the project to get a boost after Mamata Banerjee took charge of the health ministryhoped a leap in the progress of the project. But it the project hasn’t progressed much in the past few months, said sources.

“With the Trinamool Congress at the state and the party being a part of the UPA government, we had high hopes in the speedy completion of the project. But nothing has changed in the past 10 months. The project is in a limbo and we have no idea when it will materialize,” said a hospital source.

In August 2003, the then union health minister Sushma Swaraj had given the in-principle assented nod to the upgrade of MCHC on the lines of AIIMS. At the behest of the health ministry, a team from AIIMS visited MCHC in April 2007 to take stock of things. The final shape to the proposed centre of excellence after a visit by a team from AIIMS to MCHC in April 2007 at the behest of the ministry of health. After getting a feedback.

Based on their feedback, the Centre sanctioned Rs 100 crore for the project while the state was given responsibility to arrange for given the responsibility of pumping in Rs 20 crore.

The upgrade included construction of an OPD complex to house OPDs of all streams, an academic block, acquiring of latest equipment, building a multispeciality unit and a regional cancer treatment centre with nuclear medicine facility.

Though construction work began in 2007, only the OPD unit has been made ready in the last five years. No one has clue about the multispeciality unit that was supposed to become operational by March 2010. No one can say for sure when the work on the multispecialty unit will begin. Infact this unit was be become operational by March 2010. Cut to March 2012, two years down the building itself is yet to come up forget about other infrastructure including equipment and others.

Meanwhile, the cost has escalated to 156 crore from the original estimate of Rs 120 crore in 2009. The state government had to bear the additional cost.

The health department officials blamed the delay on a tussle between the Noida-based HSCC (India) Ltd, the implementing agency of the project, and the local construction company. “Existing services have to be continued while the uplift is underway. Thus it isn’t easy to keep to the timeline. The dispute between the implementing agency and the construction company over payment issues has added to the delay.

But work on the multispecialty unit will soon begin,” said Asit Biswas, spokesperson of the health department.

Shifting of some offices that are housed in the dilapidated building, where the multispeciality unit would come up, posed a problem. The co-operative of the hospital staff and an office of the Kolkata municipal corporation are some the offices that are housed in the building that would have to be razed.

Ananda Basak, a member of the advisory committee of the state government’s employees federation, said, “Initially, the hospital did not bother to inform us about the shift. But once we received the notice, the office was vacated within two days.”Another source said that “The staff have agreed to relocate their office. Also, the tussle between the HSCC and the local constructor needs to be intervened by the government from time to time, otherwise the project will not be completed anytime soon. see light of the day,” said a hospital source.

CMO official stalls IAS promotions

KOLKATA: Routine promotion of three senior IAS officials was stalled by a top CMO official who had an axe to grind against one of the three. Finally, chief secretary Samar Ghosh had to intervene and push the file to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s table for her approval.

Social welfare department secretary Tuk Tuk Kumar had apparently invited the wrath over a somewhat innocuous note she had written on a file relating to the Integrated Child Development Scheme. Apparently, the person at the chief minister’s office (CMO) failed to fathom the note and asked for an explanation. Kumar reportedly told him that the note was quite legible and made absolute sense. The officer didn’t agree and asked her to change it.

Matters turned complex when Kumar stuck to her ground and reportedly said she saw no reason why the note needed to be amended. Finally, the officer at the CMO demanded that the note be withdrawn completely.

In the meantime, about a fortnight ago, the file for promoting Kumar, a 1981 batch officer, and two others in the same batch, Nihar Banerjee and A K Agarwal, went to the same officer so that it could be presented to the chief minister. All three were supposed to be promoted to the rank of the additional chief secretary, the highest in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

The promotions were already cleared by the departmental promotional committee (DPC), which is headed by the chief secretary. There are two other members – senior-most officer Anup Chanda and union health secretary P K Pradhan. The rule is that an officer from the state cadre who is in the rank of secretary in Delhi should be a member of the DPC. The file concerning the promotions had been instantly cleared by the DPC and duly signed by Pradhan from Delhi. But it got stuck at the CMO for some strange reason.

While Kumar knew what had gone wrong, the other two were clueless about the delay. Nihar Banerjee’s promotion was already due for being the senior-most of the three. Kumar and Agarwal made it to the category after the recent cadre revision in which Bengal (on the chief minister’s persistent demand) had been allotted 45 more IAS officers.

Officials at Writers’ Buildings clarified that the promotion to the rank of additional chief secretary usually takes 24 hours after the file concerned has been moved. But these three officials were left guessing as to why their promotion was being delayed. Apparently, Kumar was told her promotion would not happen unless she withdrew her notes. She refused once again, causing an impasse of sorts.

“Since the other two IAS officers’ promotions were tagged with Kumar’s, they too had to suffer the delay,” said a source in the government, adding that such an instance was unprecedented in government circles, because a promotion to the rank of additional chief secretary is a routine affair.

Finally, the matter was brought to the notice of chief secretary Samar Ghosh, who had the file sent to the chief minister’s table. Mamata Banerjee signed the order to promote Banerjee, Kumar and Agarwal as additional chief secretaries was passed on March 13. With these three, Bengal now has seven additional chief secretaries.

Gaudy makeover for Raj-era bridge

KOLKATA: A politician in the state seems to have taken chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s diktat to beautify the city so seriously that he’s going out of his way to turn the simple stateliness of a Raj-era bridge into a gaudy modern-day artwork. In a bid to draw Mamata’s attention, lakhs have already been spent on the incongruous makeover of the bridge that connects Beliaghata Road with Beliaghata Main Road.

Not only has the politician – Manicktala MLA Paresh Pal – gone overboard on aesthetics, he has even consigned norms to the bin by arbitrarily awarding the project to a private contractor. If Pal has his way, a similar cosmetic makeover is waiting for bridges at Narkeldanga Main Road and Manicktala Main Road.

It was Mamata’s command to party MPs, MLAs and councillors to beautify Kolkata that spurred Pal into action. The Beliaghata canal from Baghbazar in north Kolkata to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in the east cuts across his constituency. With polluted water stagnating in the clogged canal and waste littered all over, the stench and squalor is overpowering.

Yet, the MLA somehow “overlooked” the filth below and concentrated on the staid structure of the bridge over it. “The canal has to be dredged and people living along it rehabilitated for cleaning up the entire stretch. That involves huge cost and is beyond my scope. The bridges are used by lakhs of people and sprucing them up would make an immediate impact,” Pal reasoned.

At first, he thought about a fresh coat of paint to the three identical bridges. But with councillors, MLAs and MPs vying for Mamata’s attention with all kinds of beautification projects, Pal realized a simple paint job would go unnoticed. That’s when he decided on doing something more radical to grab the eyeballs.

Consequently, Pal roped in Joy Sengupta, an artist he had earlier engaged to beautify Kankurgachi Park. The brief was simple: make something so striking that the bridge stands out. Joy used the motif – brick and mortar seats in the shape of wooden logs – that he had worked on in the park five years ago. His idea was to transform the concrete bridge into a log bridge, complete with giant mushrooms sprouting over the edge. Sengupta proposed the idea and the maverick politician lapped it up without even consulting city planners, architects, conservationists or other artists on the appropriateness or incongruity of the fancy art work on a public bridge of British vintage.

“I want the bridge to stand out and look somewhat like the park. In the squalor, it will be an oasis of sorts,” said Pal, adding that conical shelters were being built on the bridge to house statues of Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda and Acharya Prafulla Chandra.

There was a hitch though. Executing the beautification work would require more funds than a simple paint job. But getting funds approved through the proper channel would be a challenge and could stall the project. That’s when he decided to get only the kerb-side wrought iron railings approved under the MLA Local Area Development Fund. He would himself arrange for funds for the actual makeover. While the former would cost Rs 5 lakh, that latter needed Rs 15-20 lakh.

Pal conceded that he did bypass the norms by not roping in the civic body. Senior civic officials expressed surprise over Pal’s initiative to get the beautification work done by a private contractor without the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s supervision. But the MLA is unfazed. “I don’t trust government agencies as involving them would have led to delays and cost escalation,” Pal argued.

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage Kolkata chapter convenor GM Kapur said he was amazed at the lack of sensitivity. “Who is in authority? Everyone, even KMC, appears to be totally toothless. Arbitrary decisions on matters in public sphere are being taken all too often. Beautification is one thing, changing the character of the city quite another. Why should anyone’s personal taste and preference be fostered on the entire city? Why doesn’t the government and the KMC set up a committee comprising architects and artists to suggest ways to meaningfully carry out a beautification drive?” Kapur wondered.

Mayor Sovon Chatterjee said he wasn’t aware of the project, and hence, couldn’t comment. “I will look into it,” he said.

Congress likely to give TMC a walkover in Bengal Rajya Sabha polls

KOLKATA: On Saturday, Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed called on Mamata Banerjee. Just two days after that, sources claimed, Uttar Pradesh chief minister designate Akhilesh Yadav has expressed his desire to visit Kolkata. While the Trinamool Congress chief will use this to her advantage, the Congress has to give more to Mamata than what it will get in return to keep the alliance going. The March 30 Rajya Sabha elections – in which candidates from Bengal will be elected to the Upper House – could well be an indicator.

It may be mentioned here that Mamata was ready to visit Chandigarh to attend Shiromoni Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal’s swearing in ceremony. She cancelled the programme on Sunday, after receiving phone calls from the Prime Minister.

The Trinamool chief minced no words when Shakeel Ahmed met her at Writers’ seeking her party’s support in the Rajya Sabha polls. She instead sought the Congress support in favour of a fourth Trinamool candidate this time and urged him to wait for the next Rajya Sabha polls for Trinamool’s support. It means that the Congress has to fight on its own if it fields a candidate this time.

Then, will the Congress field a candidate from Bengal? “The party high command will take the call. For, the decision will have wide ramification. It’s not difficult to find a candidate. I can only say that Congress won’t seek the Left support for the Rajya Sabha poll. And the high command will have to take the decision much before March 19 – the last date of filing nominations is March 19, because the candidate has to fill in a 10-page form and give declaration of assets including family,” said PCC chief Pradip Bhattacharya.

Going by what the PCC president said, chances are that the Congress might choose to go without a member in the Rajya Sabha from Bengal, leaving the numbers game entirely to Didi. The reason is that the Congress has 42 members in the Bengal assembly – seven less than the quota number (49). Seeking support from the Left Front will only spoil the Congress’s prospects in its strongholds – Murshidabad, Malda and parts of north Bengal. The Congress is thus left with little choice.

Instead, the party’s throwing its weight behind the Trinamool candidates that has 185 MLAs will help Mamata bag four Rajya Sabha seats. Whatever the scene, the Trinamool is all set to push its tally to 9 or 10 in the Rajya Sabha, depending on the number of candidates it fields.

The party with its enhanced strength in the Rajya Sabha will also emerge as a major player in the presidential elections after Pratibha Patil’s tenure ends in July. The other option could be that both the parties may agree on an independent person as the fourth candidate.

Trinamool leaders, on the other hand, made it clear that the party is not going to compromise on the state’s interests, leaving broad hints of its throwing a spanner in passing of Bills such as Lokayukt Bill, to keep Congress under pressure. They are also keeping an eye on how Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee handles Mamata’s long standing demand for a three-year moratorium on the Rs 22,000 crore interest that the Bengal government has to pay as annual interest to the Centre on the debt burden of Rs 2 lakh crore.

“We are not going to compromise on the state’s interests. We want a three-year moratorium on the debt burden, and have also opposed the entry of multi-brand FDI in retail. We have also opposed the Lokayukt part of the Lokpal Bill, and are also concerned over the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC),” said Trinamool parliamentary party leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay. Of these, the financial point is of prime importance that is likely to determine the Trinamool’s future course.

This being too difficult a demand for the Congress trying to make ends meet, Congress leaders expect little from the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha. “I don’t how far the finance minister will be able to satisfy Mamata. The Centre can’t distribute favours to Bengal without doing anything for the other debt-ridden states such as Kerala and Punjab. It requires huge funds to do justice to all the three,” a Pradesh Congress mem

Fingerprint-based attendance atstate govt offices

KOLKATA: Government employees can no longer sneak a French leave or walk out before 5.30pm. The Mamata Banerjee government is installing fingerprint readers that will record the time an employee logs in and logs out of office.

Attendance has always been a prickly issue with government employees. Many staff walk in late by simply signing in. Those who sneak out before closing time have evolved any number of smart tricks, including leaving their spectacles or bag on their table to feign that they are around and would return any time. Last week, on the day of the bandh, there was a tampering of the attendance register in the agriculture directorate at Writers’ Buildings. Some staff were absent in spite of the threat of break in service but when a headcount was ordered, the page for February28 went missing.

Once the biometric system is introduced, attendance registers will be redundant, officers said. The previous Left Front government had tried to implement it but failed. But the Mamata Banerjee administration is rolling it out with the Swasthya Bhavan (health department HQ) in April. Last week, the health department completed installing four fingerprint terminals in the lounge. The employees won’t have any card to swipe. Each terminal has a ‘reader’ to scan the fingerprint and match it to a databank.

Earlier attempts to improve attendance at government offices had a lukewarm response, but this time, officials hope to achieve success by introducing the fingerprint system in all government offices.

Generally, secretariat staff start leaving around 3.30pm and after 4.30pm there is a great rush to leave when the official check-out time is still an hour away.

Health secretary Sanjay Mitra had earlier tried to use SMS-based technology to get information about functioning of out patient departments (OPD) in government hospitals. But it was found that many hospital superintendents were sending SMSes to show that the OPDs were functioning from 9am without verifying whether there were any doctors present. In reality, many OPDs were not operating. Health officials want to install the biometric attendance system at all hospitals and health centres.

A recent survey by the health department found that staff would often indulge in ‘mini-shifts’ and instead of work far less than the mandatory 48 hours a week. Many teaching doctors were also found absent from medical college hospitals, say sources.

“The fingerprint system will help keep a tab on the doctors and staff. There will be special system for those who work in shifts,” said an official. Sources say staff of colleges and universities will also have to clock in with a biometric system.

Jail night for CM nephew

An Alipore court sent Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Akash to jail for two days on Thursday, only to reduce judicial custody by a day after a battery of defence lawyers argued that the cop-assault case against him didn’t merit non-bailable charges.

Second judicial magistrate Suparna Roy had originally scheduled the next hearing for Saturday, which meant Akash, 27, and three of his friends would have to spend at least two nights in a prison cell.

Lawyers representing the chief minister’s nephew immediately protested the order, saying the non-bailable sections under which he and the other three accused had been charged were not applicable to this particular case.

“The accused should have been booked under Section 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and not 353 (assault to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) of the IPC. So they have been wrongly booked,” argued lawyer Shantanu Dutta.

Roy replied that if the defence had objections to the list of charges drawn up by police, they could raise them in court the next day. “Then why not schedule the next hearing on Friday?” demanded the lawyers in unison.

A handful of Trinamul supporters noisily backed the demand even as the second judicial magistrate Roy reviewed her order. She ordered a few minutes later that Akash and his co-accused be produced in court on Friday.

Akash, Nitish Singh, Amit Kumar Mishra and Mohammad Sarmuddin had been brought to court around noon with their faces covered. A 50-strong Trinamul contingent stood nearby as the quartet were escorted to the court lock-up they were to share with the accused in the AMRI case for the next few hours.

The proceedings began around 2.40pm with the defence lawyers pleading for bail on the ground that Akash allegedly assaulting the officer-in-charge of the Vidyasagar Setu traffic guard, Subir Ghosh, was a “petty case”.

Public prosecutor Pijush Kanti Mondal’s opposition to bail for the accused almost drowned in the chorus of voices defending him.

A Tata Aria carrying Akash, whose father Ashim Banerjee is the second of Mamata’s elder brothers, had jumped a traffic signal in Kidderpore on Wednesday and obstructed traffic. On being accosted, he allegedly screamed “Chinish na amay? Aami mukkho montrir bhaipo (Don’t you know me? I am the chief minister’s nephew)” before assaulting inspector Ghosh.

Akash later flashed an identity card mentioning 30B Harish Chatterjee Street as his address, at which he was let off. The cops arrested him two hours later, apparently after chief minister Mamata sent word to Lalbazar.

NCC plea to return to education dept

KOLKATA: The National Cadet Corps (NCC) in West Bengal is trying to return to the education department.

In most states in the country, the NCC is under the education department. In West Bengal too, it was the same till 1996 when the Left Front government shifted it to the civil defence department. Since then the organization in the state has been facing problems.

Things have started looking up after the new government took over and efforts are being made to shift it back to the education department.

“We did face some problems with the previous government which did not pay due importance to NCC. However, after the change of guards, we have been getting alot of support. Both the civil defence minister and the chief minister are very keen to sort out our problems. I have suggested to the state civil defence minister and the education minister to bring NCC back to the education department. I will submit a formal proposal after I discuss the matter with Mamata Banerjee.

Several ministers, including Firhad Hakim, are former NCC cadets and are very cooperative,” Maj Gen M P Singh, additional director general, NCC (West Bengal and Sikkim directorate) said. According to Singh, the performance of NCC cadets from Bengal has improved significantly in the last few months, thanks to the motivation.

On Tuesday, Governor M K Narayanan gave away medals to NCC cadets who have excelled in several fields. “NCC should be made compulsory in schools. Children should go through the NCC discipline as it will make them better citizens,” Narayanan said.

State unhappy with counter-terror centre

KOLKATA: The state government wants to thrash out certain issues with the Centre over the powers and functions of the anti-terror agency, National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), which the Centre will set up by March 1.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that the state government will oppose the move, as “it could not be allowed in a federal structure”. Mamata said Odisha was also opposing it.

The NCTC will derive its powers from the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which allows it to make arrests or searches across the country in terror-related cases.

While the state police are supposed to be kept in the loop when such searches are conducted or arrests made, the state government is apparently not confident that this will be the case when it comes to actual operations or arrests. The top brass in the state administration is currently discussing the issue, and will take up the issue with the Centre officially.

Since former chief minister Jyoti Basu’s tenure, the sharing of power between the Centre and the state has been a critical issue in Bengal politics. And despite the widely differing political ideologies, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress seem to be having the same view regarding the fact that the state should be given more power in a federal structure.

The state government’s main objection is about the fact that the central agency can make arrests in areas that are under the state jurisdiction. This could also be the state’s conscious decision to monitor the Maoist issue where it does not want the Centre to intervene.

The NCTC will collate and analyze inputs on terror threats throughout the country and will have the legal power to make arrests and conduct search operations. The Cabinet Committee on Security ( CCS) had on January 11 approved of the creation of the NCTC, and now the Centre seems keen on knowing the views of the state governments on this.

The agency will have the power to keep a constant data on terror modules, terrorists and all their associates. It can also seek all kinds of information from any agency – including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Investigation Agency (NIA), as well as all central armed police forces, and even the National Security Guard (NSG).

It is in these areas too that the state government is looking at whether it would be “comfortable” sharing all its information with the agency, especially ones which it has investigated and which may be “sensitive” to share.

Since former chief minister Jyoti Basu’s tenure, the sharing of power between the Centre and the state has been a critical issue in Bengal politics. And despite the widely differing political ideologies, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress seem to be having the same view regarding the fact that the state should be given more power in a federal structure.

Subrata replaces Sobhandeb as INTTUC head

KOLKATA: Veteran politician and state minister, Subrata Mukherjee is getting more and more importance in Mamata Banerjee’s administrative and political functioning. The minister now wears several hats – the latest being that of Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) president. He replaced senior party leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.

At a meeting convened at Writers’ Buildings on Wednesday, the chief minister announced that Mukherjee would now head the INTTUC as its all-India president in place of Sobhandeb. Purnendu Bose has been made the state chairman. The meeting was attended by Purnendu Bose, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee and others.

In the book compiled by the Mamata government on completion of 200 days in power, Mukherjee’s name is in the third position on the list of Cabinet ministers, Partha Chatterjee being the No. 2.

Only on December 27, Mukherjee was given the important department of panchayat and rural development in addition to public health and engineering (PHE). He had initially been kept out of Writers’ and was given a department housed in the New Secretariat when Mamata came to power on May 20 last year.

Apparently, Mukherjee’s detractors tried their best to keep the veteran politician at bay, citing his political flip-flops, especially the way the once all-powerful mayor sunk the Trinamool boat on the eve of the 2005 corporation elections. But the chief minister gradually realized that she needs this man – with political and administrative experience – near her.

The veteran politician and seasoned minister who debuted in the S S Ray government four decades ago, seems to be the chief minister’s trump card ahead of the crucial panchayat elections. Announcing Mukherjee’s “comeback”, the chief minister had then said, “Panchayat is an important department. We have decided to switch responsibilities. Subratada will be in charge of this department along with PHE.”

The CM created a new department for Chandranath Sinha, the former panchayat and rural development minister, who faired badly in the panchayat department.

Now, CCTVs in neta’s rooms at Writers’ Building

KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to install CCTV cameras in the ministers’ chambers at Writers’ Buildings. The surveillance order has triggered wonder, amusement and quite a few smirks in the corridors of power.

Officials say the decision was taken at the ‘top level’ to increase security at Writers’. There have been frequent thefts in the administrative headquarters. Computer cartridges are most commonly stolen, and even wall clocks, not to speak of diaries and calendars regularly lifted from chambers of ministers and officials. Recently, a laptop was stolen from the chamber of environment secretary R P S Kahlon although it was in a locked cabinet.

Many corridors of the high security building are already under CCTV cover, but this is the first time that there will be cameras inside ministers’ chambers.

However, many perceive this as a 24×7 watch on the ministers. Who are they meeting? How are they working? Is any of them playing truant? Mamata Banerjee is, after all, a strict taskmaster and cannot tolerate anything but full attention to work.

The surveillance order comes at a time when TMC-Congress ties are going through a rough patch, and Congress ministers are especially under the scanner. PWD officials are secretive about the CCTV proposal. PWD minister Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar refused to comment but a senior official confirmed that the project was being discussed.

Commerce and industries minister Partha Chatterjee said he didn’t know about this. “I am not aware. But yes, some people were talking,” Chatterjee said.