State to acquire all truck terminals functioning along border by Feb 7

KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday that the state Transport department would acquire all the truck terminals functioning along the border by February 7. The truck terminuses are along Bangladesh border in Petrapol, Changrabandha, Malda and Ghojadanga, among others.

"We want the Transport Department to take over by February 7, and I want to see that advertisements regarding this are out on February 8," Banerjee stated.

The move is aimed at increasing the revenue of the state government. "I have received information that some people have been taking money from the truck terminal functioning along the border. Different political parties and a section of officers are involved in this, which might fulfill the needs of some people but it is not coming to any benefit for the government. I shall not allow such things to continue. So, I want the Transport department to take over all such truck terminals without delay and the whole process should be completed by February 7,"Banerjee said, instructing state Transport minister Firhad Hakim to take necessary measures in this regard.

She asked the District Magistrates and the Superintendents of Police to do the needful for fast tracking the takeover process. "There will be nothing private. It should be fully-owned and controlled by the state government. We want the revenue to go to the government exchequer and not distributed among some individuals," the Chief Minister said. When asked by the CM to explain the details of the entire plan, the state Chief Secretary H.K Dwivedi said there were seven bordering districts that had been encountering these issues.

"It is a fact that the money from these truck terminals is not adding up to the government revenue. There are two truck terminals at North 24-Parganas border while others are mainly in the bordering North Bengal districts. The local municipalities get some money from these places but the state government gets nothing. The entire money is locally distributed. It is not helping the government,"Dwivedi said.

He also informed that Bongaon Municipality has already given a NoC (No Objection Certificate) to the state government but that is not written properly. He added that another NoC was needed from the municipality. Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said: "It is written in a poor and faulty language. This is not NoC at all."

Banerjee then asked Bhattacharya to do the needful in this regard and take action against the municipalities who refuse to issue such NOCs. "There should be an advertisement on the 8th of this month after the takeover of the terminals is over," Banerjee told Hakim.

"We can have a substantial revenue generation from the bordering areas which will help to smoothly run schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar and Students Credit Card. We will have to be proactive in earning revenue for the government for running the people friendly schemes," Chief Minister Banerjee added.