Here’s an amazing story of socialist central planning with which the Congress party’s de facto chief Rahul Gandhi continues to be enamoured. West Bengal’s Ghatal constituency sited 120 km from Kolkata in the rain-fed catchment area between the Shilabati and Jhumi rivers has been suffering severe annual flooding for centuries. In 1959, a Ghatal Master Plan was presented to the Central government in Delhi to address this problem. In Delhi, the then all-powerful Soviet-style Planning Commission took 20 years to approve the plan. In 1982, the foundation stone of the project was laid with Rs.50 crore sanctioned for it by the commission on condition that 60 percent of the cost would be borne by the Centre and remainder by the state government. This project, whose cost has since risen to Rs.1,250 crore, is yet to get off the ground and remains the prime election issue in Ghatal. According to a report in Times of India (May 23), 64 years on since this project was first mooted, 1.7 million citizens in 12 blocks of the West and East Midnapore districts of the state are bracing for another round of flooding and home collapses as the south-west monsoon advances towards West Bengal. Coincidentally, the very same edition of ToI features a disturbing op-ed essay on the impact of half a century of central planning on rural India where 65 percent of the population suffers severe neglect. All right thinking citizens should ensure that socialism and its handmaiden central planning don’t make a backdoor re-entry into governance and administration. Also read: Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi government of crushing students’ dreams through recent paper leaks
