Member of Parliament of North Malda and the district president of the Congress party, Mausam Noor, on Monday expressed dissatisfaction over the absence of district magistrate Kaushik Bhattacharya in a meeting of MP and MLA-local area development fund in the administrative building in English Bazaar here.

Mrs Noor labeled it as a “breach of courtesy.” She also raised questions on the execution of work under the minority development programmes through an agency called AGRO, instead of the Malda Zilla Parishad, which has a far better infrastructure.

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“It is very unfortunate that Mr Bhattacharya failed to attend the meeting for even a few minutes, even as a courtesy call only. I consider the absence of the DM in such a meeting regarding development a lack of courtesy,” Mrs Noor said.

“On the other hand, the decision to carry out work of the minority communities through the AGRO, by replacing the Malda Zilla Parishad (which has a far greater infrastructure than the agency which works under a sub-tender, is questionable. I don’t find any logic behind the decision and heard that the work is not going on well,” she further said.

According to administrative sources, on Monday’s meeting debated on these very issues from the very beginning. Mr Bhattacharya, however, said he failed to attend the meeting as he was away. “I had to go to Chanchal for an important inspection. It is not a matter of not showing courtesy,” he said.

On Mrs Noor’s questions on AGRO, Mr Bhattacharya said AGRO is a government listed agency and it can carry out such work. AGRO engineer Utpal Kundu also said that they were authorized by the government to perform such work and they have been doing so for a while now.

According to AGRO sources, the Zilla Parishad was given the charge by the minority development department to construct short-distance roads, boundary walls of Idgaha and graveyards and hostels for students, but later, it was decided that most of the work would be carried out by AGRO.

The government’s decision to assign AGRO (an agency that mainly handles agriculture-related projects) the construction works has raised a few eyebrows in the district.

Some questioned whether the agency had the experience and infrastructure to execute the kind of work it has now been given.