Ten days after taking oath of office, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday occupied her refurbished chamber. She had been working from the adjacent conference room because the chief minister’s chamber was being
renovated for which she paid from her own pocket. Ms Banerjee who has already donated to the fund crunch-hit state government a whopping `1 crore, raised from the sale of her paintings, handed over a cheque of `2 lakh to the state chief secretary.
Making this announcement at the Writers’ Buildings, Ms Banerjee on Monday said: “`2 lakh were spent on the purchase of necessary furniture, interior decoration and giving my chamber a fresh coat of paint. Since the state is going through a financial crisis, I did not want the government to spend money for refurbishing my chamber. I have given a personal cheque of `2 lakh to the state chief secretary.”
On May 20, when Ms Banerjee arrived at her chamber to assume office, she had openly expressed her displeasure at its state. She found it ill-lit and shabbily furnished; she did not even like the colour of the walls. Now her room looks much brighter with off-white walls and milk white ceiling. There was wall to wall carpet when her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee occupied the room. She got the carpet removed and went for wooden flooring. Sixteen cushioned chairs for visitors are kept around her semicircular table but she herself sits on an ordinary wooden chair. “When you have to work for 10 hours daily, you do need some minimum infrastructure. Space is also required for working properly. An investment-friendly environment is necessary for attracting investors,” said Ms Banerjee.
She has also decided to shift some departments from Writers’ Buildings to ease the pressure of space. “We need to extend the space of the finance department, home department and the chief minister’s office for better functioning of the government,” she explained.