Malda Training Diary - Administrative Training Institute

Page 45 of 45
Work done
Tarpaulin inspection at Bamangola, 10.30 am – 5 pm
Visited Kuriapara camp in Old Malda, total about 130 km.
Persons met
Sudhir Chakraborty: Curator, Malda Museum.
Information
On way to Bamangola with all probationers, we also visited Kuriapara camp, near
Narayanpur [some 2 miles from N.H.34], saw trucks being loaded. Rahman wants to go to
Sibganj tomorrow to see the requirements.
At Bamangola, we first went about 8 miles to Mudipukur and loaded 55 serviceable
tarpaulins onto the accompanying truck. Then from the Block Office godowns we took
another 83, and sent these at once to Habibpur for transmission to Porsha. The condemned
ones number 63. Using these as ink rags in elections is dangerous because, as BDO pointed
out, so many diseases had been rife among the evacuees living in them. We didn’t touch the
flood relief tarpaulins as Prashanto Bhattacharjee [Dy. Mag. on prob.] pointed out we would
need these during our yearly floods.
We returned via Old Malda, to have a look at the town. I believe the houses inside the town
are all in one row with common walls and no windows—this being a precautionary measure
against “Bagdi” dacoities.
Met the DM who told me not to send any more tarpaulins till Bhutobabu & he & I had a
meeting to decide requirements. However, we should continue our inspection &
classification.
With SDO we decided to leave early on 18 th for Rajshahi; proceed on 19 th to adjoining areas
(Natore) & return through Bogura, Dinajpur. We will have to take jerry cans of fuel along.
At SDO’s residence, met Sudhir Chakraborty, journalist, history enthusiast & Curator of the
museum. He told us of the founding of Englishbazar. There is a diary of those times of a
Nilkuthi owner. Our present English Office was one such Kuthi & had a tablet to that effect,
which the U.F Govt. removed. He confirmed the existence of a judgement in Bankim’s own
hand in our Record Room. The house he used to live in is now “Malati Hotel” to the right of
the Netaji bust. He is a Hindi enthusiast and edits “Gauda Barta”, & is also a Homeopath.
Prescribed a medicine for my chronic cold, after long discussion with the SDO who is also an
amateur homeopath. I recited some of Jaishankar Prasad’s compositions to prove that Hindi
can be musical too. Kar related amusing stories of an IAS officer’s 4 attempts to pass the
Hindi Departmental Test.
17.2.1972
Work done
Signing some files for DM in Sr. DC’s office.
Assisted in fixing up Election Training Programme.
Attended talk on Panchayat System in WB, by Rathin Kar.
Information
With Kar I helped in making out the proforma for informing polling personal about the
training programme. In the afternoon I attended his talk to Gram Sevaks on role of youths in
Panchayats. An extremely informative and inspiring talk in which he showed them how they
could spread new ideas about agriculture farming, how ensure paying of taxes to Anchal
Panchayats to benefit villages in developmental work [any per capita tax collection above the
1968-69 rate will be multiplied by 1961 census of that Anchal & the amount paid to that
Anchal is incentive to collect taxes]. He spoke extempore having been told about this talk
only this morning.