17 families residing at Nurtala in Bantala get electricity connection

Kolkata: After several decades of living in darkness, 17 families residing at the Nurtala locality of Bantala under ward 108 Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) have got electricity supply.

Generations have grown up there studying and working with the help of hurricane lamps and road-side lights.

The initiative was taken by councillor of ward 108 Sushanta Kumar Ghosh, with joint effort by Mayor Firhad Hakim and state Power Minister Aroop Biswas.

"I have personally funded it. It took Rs 25,000 to extend the connection," Ghosh said.

The residents of the locality which is more than a kilometer away from Bantala bus stop are rejoicing on the demand being fulfilled. Ahead of the civic polls Ghosh, as a candidate, had promised the people of electricity.

"Many people promised to extend the CESC line to the place. But he (Ghosh) did it," a resident of the locality, who has been staying there for the last 20 years, said.

Complaining about the abominable condition that the people had to live under, a resident of the area Jaguna said: "We have lived in darkness. It used to be extremely difficult during summer with temperatures rising above 40 degree Celsius. I used to sit beneath trees to seek relief

from heat."

A Class 9 student of Kheyadaha High School in Sonarpur used to study under the rays of lamp every evening. "We have an electric meter installed in our house now, we have a bulb and a fan. I can now study with renewed vigour,

she added.

Hoping for a better condition, Mamta Munda, a 36-year-old worker working at Bantala Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centre said that her two children, studying in Kheyadaha High School, will now have light to study unlike the generation

before them.