West Bengal minister to build hospital for dogs in memory of wife in Kolkata

A minister in the Mamata Banerjee Cabinet in West Bengal is working on building a hospital for dogs, in remembrance of his wife. West Bengal Education Minister Parth Chatterjee says there is no better way for him to pay tributes to his wife, who used to love dogs.

According to Prabhat Khabar, the minister has begun preparations for opening the veterinary hospital in Kolkata. The hospital will be named Babli Chatterjee Memorial Pet Hospital, in the name of his wife, who breathed her last in July 2017.

The report quotes him as saying, “My wife was a true dog lover. She used to really care about them. She would take ailing dogs to doctors, and ensure medication for them. This gave me a thought to build a hospital for dogs to keep alive the memories of my wife.”

The minister says that at times when he returned home late from meetings, he was forced to sleep on floor as his pet dogs would have already slept on his bed.

Chatterjee, who became a lawmaker in 2001 for the first time, is quite secretive and careful about his pet dogs. Neither does he post their pictures on social media websites like Facebook, nor does he allow others to click their photographs.

“There is lack of veterinary hospitals in Kolkata. My wife often used to talk about this to me. Members of trust are constantly in touch with me and several veterinary doctors. I have asked them to ensure the best of facilities for dogs. I have also asked them to speed things up,” Chatterjee told Prabhat Khabar.