The CPI-M has said it will seek reports on the status of the around Rs 90 crore given to the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) by a private company during the land handover at Kawakhali in Siliguri during the tenure of the previous Left Front government.

The party has said it will file an application in this regard through the Right to Information Act. At the same time, the party will also seek information on the status of money given to the SJDA during a proposed township project, ‘Utsodhaara,’ through the RTI.

Former Siliguri mayor and former state urban development and municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya today said that they would seek the information on the money given by the Bengal Unitech Universal.

According to Mr Bhattacharya, Unitech was supposed to construct a township at Kwakhali and the company had paid around Rs 90 crore, of the Rs 300 crore project to be set up on 92 acres of land during the erstwhile Left Front regime in the state in 2007. Mr Bhattacharya was also the SJDA chairman then. The project, however, could not kick-off.

“We are wondering whether the money which had been given to the SJDA is safe. Another township project is coming up here. We have no issues over that, but we want to know whether the money given to the SJDA for this is also safe. We will file RTI applications to get the information,” he said.

The proposed ‘Utsodhaara Teesta Township’ is coming up on 81 acres of land. According to Mr Bhattacharya, they were suspecting that the money had been misappropriated in the alleged Rs 200 crore scam of the SJDA.

Sources said Unitech had given the SJDA Rs 84 crore. According to SJDA chairman Sourav Chakraborty, they will receive the reply officially if they file an application through the RTI.

SJDA sources, on the other hand, said the amount paid by Unitech had been deposited in the bank as a fixed deposit. Mr Bhattacharya said the cost of the project land for ‘Utsodhaara’ could be more than Rs 80 crore. Meanwhile, to press for the demand for three-tier rural elections, the Left Front will organise a march to the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad office on 15 September and a citizen convention for immediate civic body polls on 23 September.

Mr Bhattacharya and Left Front Darjeeling district convener Jibesh Sarkar said people were facing serious problems in lack of basic services in both urban and rural areas. “We are demanding immediate polls to both the civic body and the SMP, and withdrawal of the illegal board of administrators,” they said.