Last Thursday, when life in Kolkata hit by the 24-hour strike called by the Left trade unions, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was forced to take the stairs to his first-floor office at Writers’ Building as the VIP lift was not working. Now, the lift operator is under the scanner for his alleged role in sabotaging the elevator. The other lifts at Writers’ Building meant for the public were also not working on the day of the strike. Taking a strong note of this, the Chief Minister’s Office asked the Public Works Department Minister, Amar Chowdhury, to probe into the incident. The PWD is in charge of maintenance of Writers’ Building, including the lifts. ‘‘The VIP lift operator, Subhas, has been pulled up by the PWD officials. Interestingly, the lift was working just 10 minutes before the CM’s arrival. Soon after Buddhadeb trudged up the stairs and reached his office, the lift became operational again. So the lift seems to have developed a technical snag just for 10 minutes. Hence, the chief engineer of PWD, P K Deb, has been asked to conduct an inquiry into the episode,’’ said a senior Writers’ Building official. He said the incident occurred just as the CM entered the Writers’ Building at around 11.22 am. After being informed by the lift operator that the VIP lift had developed some ‘‘technical snag’’, Buddhadeb took the stairs. When contacted, the PWD Minister admitted that an enquiry was on. ‘‘Our officials are conducting a probe. I won’t be able to tell you more,’’ he said. But Jyoti Prasad Basu, general secretary of the Coordination Committee of State Government employees which is affiliated to the CPI(M), said the lift operator seemed to have no role in the episode. ‘‘There was some technical problem with the lift. Normally, it does not happen. How it happened on that day is difficult to say,’’ said Basu.
