The blue eyed boy of the blue blooded brigade, the Hon’ble Mayor of Kolkata decides to paint the town in blue and white. Complying herd would be given tax sops for a year. What if that is going to increase the deficit of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation? The non-complying would chip in with more taxes, or the spine breaking load of deficits and loans would marginally increase.
Reminiscent of Muhammad Bin Tuglaq, whose maverick governance is known to all, the present dispensation fiddles with every sort of gimmick and tomfoolery to keep the vote bank enthralled, forgetting that it is a debt burdened government, reeling under the severity of meeting the repayment liability on the borrowings of the previous state government, the interest alone amounting to tens of thousands of crores annually.
The Chief Minister apparently could be a well-meant person, but with sycophants around, who exploit her naivety, acts repeatedly in an irresponsible manner at the public expense and tax payers’ money. Doling out crores of rupees to sports clubs, paying out of state coffers for the investors of Sharada scam, and lately organizing a state sponsored felicitation at the Eden gardens stadium for the victory of ‘Kolkata’ Knight Riders, the private organization which beyond sticking to the word Kolkata in its name does not have a wee bit connection to West Bengal. The event also reflected the large number of youth, unemployed and wasted, filling a large stadium as Eden, even before dawn.
The average urban, educated and normal blooded citizens are appalled, but the blues can do without them. All it matters is to keep the rural flock happy, and Shah Rukh may visit a few more times to do the jig, with boisterous crowds lapping it all to lessen their stress.
Tenders are soon to be floated for flow meters for measuring and levying a fees on water consumption, a cause which the present government despised when they were in opposition. It is now a reality, prodded by the World Bank. There are no free lunches, not even for the Government, which merely the blue and white paint cannot provide!
