Chairman of the Board of Administrators at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC), Gautam Deb, today visited PC Mittal Memorial Bus Terminus, a joint venture of the SMC with the Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), as part of its renovation plans ahead of the much-awaited civic body elections, which everyone is expecting to be held after the Bhowanipur Assembly by-election results.

Observers have said that keeping an eye on the civic polls, Mr Deb is trying hard to showcase development in the corporation area as soon as possible so that his party can have good election results and come to the SMC helm.

Notably, Mr Deb, the former minister for North Bengal Development Department and former minister for Tourism, was defeated by a BJP candidate in the last Assembly elections in the Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly constituency.
Party chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was also defeated in Nandigram and will now contest the by-elections from Bhowanipur, has appointed Mr Deb as the chairman of the Board of Administrators at the SMC.

Observers say the move was prompted by the fact that her party lacked a good political leader, who could represent the state government in this region, following the poor election results of the Trinamul Congress in North Bengal.
During the visit today, Mr Deb said land owners of the PC Mittal Memorial Bus Terminus want to develop and utilize the establishment properly and that they need permission from the SMC to do so.

“At least 25 years ago there was an agreement between the civic body and the owners of the land, as the terminus was set up here. But there was no initiative to maintain it and even repair the road which has been damaged,” Mr Deb said today, adding, “Keeping in mind the traffic snarl in Siliguri, we have now planned to utilize it properly. The district magistrate as well as the state transport department will also look into the matter.

We plan to set up a multi-layer parking lot and build a ring road connecting Sevoke Road. We have also planned to introduce long-distance buses from the terminus.” Notably, the Left Front was dislodged from the SMC as the Congress and the TMC fought here jointly before 2011, but politically, the TMC severed ties with the Congress later.

Significantly, though the TMC came to power in West Bengal in 2011, it failed to win the SMC due to several reasons, and interestingly, the Left, in association with the Congress, came to power there again. In the present situation, the BJP is preparing to beat the Trinamul Congress when the CPI-M-led Left Front here plans to knock the Calcutta High Court’s doors, demanding immediate elections to the SMC.

Notably, the BJP candidate won the Siliguri Assembly segment in the last elections, while the TMC was in the second position and the CPI- M candidate in the third. Political observers here are not hopeful about the fate of the TMC here, because of infighting in the party.

A group of TMC leaders belonging to the anti-Gautam Deb camp are not hopeful of the party’s success, even though the TMC is in power in the state. “This time, people will not entertain GAS in the coming Siliguri Municipal elections,” a TMC insider said.

Political activists here use the code ‘GAS’ to mean Gautam Deb, Asok Bhattacharya (CPI-M leader) and Shankar  Malakar (Congress leader).