10L km rural roads in 10 yrs, courtesy Subrata

KOLKATA: Bengal created a new record of constructing nearly 10 lakh km rural roads in the past 10 years. Post Independence, the state had got only 3,000 km of the same until 2011. It had become possible because of the farsightedness of Subrata Mukherjee on whom Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had bestowed the responsibility of overall development of the state's rural region.

Mukherjee was given the minister of two departments – Panchayats and Rural Development and Public Health Engineering (PHE) – after Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011. PHE ensures adequate drinking water in the state's rural parts while the state Panchayats and Rural Development department looks after the implementation of projects for better roads, job creation and housing facilities for the rural populace.

Mukherjee's initiative to set up rural roads and supply drinking water had put rural Bengal on a higher pedestal and brought national recognition to the state several times.

Mukherjee's office at the state Panchayats and Rural Development department is full of awards received from the Centre for the excellence with which Bengal topped in terms of implementing different schemes, including MGNREGA, for rural development. The state government has already created 22 crore mandays under the 100 days job scheme. It was the target for the entire year.

"It was our minister's vision to make a new rural Bengal with better facilities and last-mile connectivity. During the pandemic, he held repeated video conferences to ensure that people, including migrant labourers, got the benefits of the 100 days work scheme," said a senior officer of the state Panchayats and Rural Development department.

His contribution towards framing the nomenclature of three-tier Panchayat polls was recollected by most of the senior leaders when his mortal remains were at Rabindra Sadan.

As a PHE minister in 2011, Mukherjee's vision brought a smile to the faces of a large section of people residing in the western part of the state as he had introduced rainwater harvesting in a big way in even dry and barren areas.

"He knew the pulse of rural Bengal and involved the masses in the development of those parts of the state. He brought a revolution in the development of the rural parts of the state," said senior Trinamool Congress leader Purnendu Basu.