Left ministers’ quibbles sink a project

Had the Rs 35-crore project been implemented,say senior officials of the Fire department,the disaster that followed Cyclone Aila could have been better managed.

Chatterjee of the Forward Bloc (Marxist) blamed CPI’s Mukherjee for the project getting shelved. “It is because of Mukherjee that the project could not take off. Had it been implemented,we could have fought the disaster better,” Chatterjee told The Indian Express.

Mukherjee said: “I don’t know what Pratimda has told you. But I don’t want to comment on this.” According to Fire department officials,after the cyclone hit Bengal,the file was taken out of the shelf and sent again to Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti,who has convened a meeting on the issue.

After the Mumbai terror attacks,the Fire department had proposed setting up ‘search and rescue’ teams to combat all kinds of disasters — man-made or natural. The teams were supposed to be stationed at five centres in West Bengal. Later,after approval from the Finance department,it was decided that the teams,each comprising 60 people and equipped with modern equipment to remove debris and rescue people,will be set up at three cities — Kolkata,Siliguri and Durgapur. But when the matter came up for Cabinet approval,Mukherjee said he too wanted to set up such a team and should be given permission for the same. Following an altercation between the two ministers,the CM asked them to settle the issue. The file has been gathering dust since at Writers’ Buildings.

“After Aila,the Civil Defence department deployed five teams with tree-cutting machines,each comprising two persons. Ten people and five machines were deployed to remove 1,500 trees,” said a fire department official.