KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s move to beautify the city with
trident lights has trigged a controversy yet again. The civic body had
spent Rs 17,690 on the installation of every trident light. But it now
wants to ‘sell’ the lights to Salt Lake, Nabadiganta and South Dum Dum
municipalities for Rs 9,600 each.

The lights will be
manufactured at the KMC workshop in Entally. Tarak Singh, the member,
mayor-in-council, overseeing the KMC workshop recently wrote a letter to
the state municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim expressing the desire
to supply trident lights at a much lower rate.

Singh has also written to the chairperson of the Trinamool-run Salt Lake Municipality asking whether it needed trident lights.

The move raised eyebrows at several quarters of the civic body.
Officials wondered why the KMC lighting department had accepted the
offer of paying Rs 17,690 when the Salt Lake Municipality had paid Rs
13, 594.

Former municipal auditor Manabendra Mukherjee had also
objected to the way in which the decorative lights were installed across
the city and doubted the project’s financial viability.

“That
is the reason why the civic top brass had overruled the tender committee
and went for installation of the trident lights by inviting notice
invite tender,” a senior KMC official said.

Opposition leader
Rupa Bagchi and Congress councillor Prakash Upadhyay were very
dissatisfied with the project. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Thursday
assured Bagchi and Upadhyay that the entire process (from awarding
contract to installation) of the ‘trident light controversy’ will be
taken up at the next mayor-in-council meeting.