Kolkata: Speaker Biman Banerjee on Wednesday advised the minister in-charge of Public Works Department (PWD) to keep a drop box within the state Assembly premises so that legislators can register their complaints or demands regarding roads in their respective constituencies. The Speaker’s reaction came in the backdrop of several MLAs raising queries about roads in their respective areas during the question-answer session in the state Assembly.
PWD minister Pulak Roy tried his best to respond to individual queries from legislators. However, the Speaker said that so many complaints about bad road conditions from MLAs bear testimony to the fact that the road conditions have deteriorated.
“You had kept a drop box for queries associated with supply of drinking water in the Assembly premises earlier. Now, keep such a drop box for issues on roads. The MLAs who have complaints in connection with roads should drop the same in the box. Designate someone to pick the complaints up after two-three days and look into them so that action can be taken,” said Banerjee.
Roy said that he would do the needful at an earliest and will look into the complaints that are dropped in the box. The minister, however, clarified that all roads in the state are not under the aegis of the PWD department. There are roads that are maintained by urban local bodies’, Zilla Parishads, Irrigation and Waterways department among others and so his department cannot always be held responsible for bad quality of roads.