The Times of India                        20.11.2010

KMC's priority: Culture or water? Crores

KOLKATA: For the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, what comes first, providing basic amenities or culture? If you thought it was the former, here's a reality check: the civic body is ready to spend Rs 5.4 crore on providing an uplifting cultural experience to Kolkatans. This wouldn't normally be such a bad thing, but consider this, too: it is ready to spend just Rs 5 crore to carry out urgent overhauls of a treatment plant that supplies water to large parts of south Kolkata.

At a time when large portions of south Kolkata have been regularly going dry, the Trinamool Congress-led civic body's decision to spend so much on culture has raised serious questions over its priorities.

South Kolkata residents have been facing an acute water crisis regularly for the past few months, thanks to frequent breakdowns at the Garden Reach water treatment plant. The plant, owned by the Kolkata Metropolitan Water & Sanitation Authority (KMW&SA), supplies water to almost the whole of south Kolkata. It has been showing a host of problems in the recent past, and is in need of an urgent overhaul, said civic sources. A funds crunch, however, has always been the official reason for not going for a complete repairs. Though the state government is the owner of the plant, 80% of the water produced from the plant is distributed to south Kolkata. Hence, the KMC authorities should have had an equal stake. However, while KMW&SA has sanctioned Rs 15 crore, KMC has sanctioned only Rs 5 crore for making necessary changes to the plant.

This has angered urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya. An irate Bhattacharya claimed on Thursday that KMC "would have to pay Rs 600 crore as pending bills for buying water from KMW&SA for the past three decades". KMC might not have shared an equal burden as far as the treatment plant is concerned, but that does not mean that the civic body is cash-strapped. A look at the expenditure on the cultural front in past five months will give a fair picture how the KMC administration has spent or is ready to spend crores on the cultural front. Soon after assuming office, the mayor announced a cultural programme at Citizens' Park, where KMC also felicitated some of the city's celebrities. The civic body had to shell out Rs 25 lakh for the programme. The civic body's decision to offer the Kolkatasree award to organisers of Durga Pujas has also been criticized by the opposition. KMC had hired Science City for the venue and had organised a cultural event, which ultimately cost it Rs 35 lakh. A grand Iftar party hosted by KMC at the Park Circus Maidan this year had cost the civic exchequer Rs 30 lakh, said a source.

And that' not all. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee proudly announced a week ago that KMC would take over Uttam Mancha at Jatin Das Road in south Kolkata. Though a disputed property, the civic body is ready to spend Rs 2 crore for taking over the auditorium named after the matinee idol. Next in the agenda is taking over Ahindra Mancha in south Kolkata. This auditorium needs complete renovation and the civic authorities would need to spend around Rs 2.5 crore on it, said a KMC source.

Civic opposition leader Rupa Bagchi questioned whether being the cultural guardians of the city was a duty of the civic body. "Taking over auditoriums by spending crores, organising award functions and cultural events spending crores show that the present KMC board has something different up its sleeves. While an essential service like water supply is being neglected, the Trinamool Congress has been trying to become city's cultural guardians using the civic body's man and money power," Bagchi said on Friday.