New town renaming hits road block

Does Newtown, the upcoming satellite township of Kolkata, bear the name of the late communist leader Jyoti Basu? If you believe the present state government’s urban development minister Firhad Hakim, then the name of the township is Rajarhat Newtown, not Jyoti Basu Nagar. “So far I know, this is Rajarhat Newtown,” says Hakim. Accordingly, a bill related to Rajarhat Newtown’s move to introduce local tax in the area was returned by the Governor M K Narayan as that carried the name as Jyoti Basu Nagar. The controversy did ruffle some feathers of the Left leaders. Veteran Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh has sought chief minister’s intervention to retain Newtown’ name as Jyoti Basu Nagar. From the government’s side it was indicated that there might be some rethinking regarding naming the Rajarhat Newtown.

Now, Goutam Deb, a senior CPI (M) leader and housing minister of the erstwhile Left Front government came out with documentary proof that contrary to the belief held by the TMC government, Rajarhat Newtown was indeed christened after Jyoti Basu after going through the due process. Deb, in his press conference on Friday, circulated a copy of the gazette notification. The notification dated October 1, 2010 says that “The Governor is pleased to rename New Town, Kolkata, under the administrative control of Housing Department, as “Jyoti Basu Nagar” in the memory of Late Jyoti Basu, Ex-Chief Minister, Government of West Bengal.”

According to Deb, the bill nearing the name Jyoti Basu Nagar, which was not approved by the Governor, has nothing to do with the renaming of New Town. He claimed that the government does not need to introduce a bill to name a town after some dignitary. A simple cabinet decision is enough. In the case of Jyoti Basu Nagar, the HIDCO board passed a resolution which was forwarded to Housing department. The Housing department in turn sent it to the Chief Minister’s office. After getting the cabinet approval a gazette notification was sent to the Governor’s office, treasury office and court. He maintained that the incumbent government can off course change the name of Jyoti Basu Nagar, but for that it has to follow the due procedures. The department of urban development is yet to respond to this claim. Incidentally, it was the Left Front regime which christened Salt Lake, another satellite town of Kolkata, in the memory of Late Bidhan Chandra Roy, another former chief minister and noted Congress leader.