With civic services in a mess and the mayor having resigned on Thursday, the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation should be dissolved and fresh elections held at the earliest, BJP MLA Sharadwat Mukherjee said on Friday.
“The civic body is in complete disarray, and services have been severely affected for months. The municipal election needs to be called at the earliest. With consent from the chief minister and the urban development minister, I will request the state government to appoint an administrator so people get civic services again,” said Mukherjee, an oncologist.
Bidhannagar’s Trinamool mayor Krishna Chakraborty resigned on Thursday after seven years in office. Chakraborty, sworn in as the first woman mayor of any
municipal corporation in Bengal in August 2019, said she would continue as a councillor.
Chakraborty, a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, said it had become difficult to function since the BJP came to power in Bengal.
MLA Mukherjee said a functional civic body was essential. “The prime responsibility of providing civic services is with the municipal corporation. So, without a functioning municipal body, no one, including the representative of the legislative Assembly, can do anything... It is extremely important to make the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation functional,” he said.
Hawkers’ stalls on footpaths in AG block in Salt Lake on Friday
He added that key priorities in Salt Lake included repairing roads, addressing pre-monsoon drainage issues to prevent waterlogging, post-monsoon preparation against mosquito-borne diseases, and clearing encroachments.
“There are encroachments in several parts of Salt Lake — Karunamoyee, Baisakhi market, in front of Manipal Broadway and behind EZCC,” Mukherjee said. “These encroachments need to be removed.”
Metro reported on Friday on the township’s crumbling roads. Residents across blocks complained of stretches riddled with dangerous potholes and long patches of damaged surface.
Illegal structures
Mukherjee also raised concerns over illegal constructions.
“I have asked the civic authorities to make a list of illegal constructions. However, we have to take a humane approach. Many residents are living there with families. We have to take legal opinion on this,” he said.
Board status
Sabyasachi Dutta, chairperson of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said that as none of the 40 councillors had resigned, the civic board technically still exists and cannot be dissolved. In the 41-member body, one councillor has passed away.
In the 41-ward civic body, Trinamool had won 39 seats in the last elections. One seat went to the Congress and another to an Independent candidate. The deceased councillor had won on a Trinamool ticket.
Dutta, who was mayor until his resignation in July 2019 after 35 of Trinamool’s 39 councillors moved a no-confidence motion against him, said the proper procedure must be followed.
“Ideally, the municipal commissioner should send notices to councillors asking them to choose a new leader of the House, who would be the mayor,” he said.
“Two-thirds of councillors have to resign before the civic body can be dissolved. After I resigned as mayor, Krishna Chakraborty was elected in August 2019 by the councillors,” Dutta said.