The state government on Monday deputed an administrator for the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) within three days of Trinamool Congress veteran Gautam Deb resigning as mayor.
R. Vimala, the principal secretary of the north Bengal development department, is the new administrator at the SMC with immediate effect. Her appointment is for a tenure of six months.
With the appointment of the administrator, the civic board stands dissolved, said sources.
The announcement was made on Monday evening, a few hours after 24 councillors of the Trinamool Congress approached the state urban development and municipal affairs (UDMA) department, seeking permission to form the board at the SMC.
Kuntal Roy, the Trinamool councillor of ward 21, along with 23 other councillors, signed the application, which was submitted to the UDMA department through the SMC commissioner on Monday evening.
Ranjan Sarkar, former deputy mayor of the Trinamool-run civic board and one of the party’s senior-most councillors, did not sign the application.
Roy, who was recently appointed president of Trinamool’s Darjeeling (plains) district, said that after Deb resigned as mayor on Friday, the deputy mayor was expected to take charge of the civic body and oversee its functioning.
“Instead, we received a letter from the civic authority the very next day after the mayor’s resignation (Saturday), stating that we had to communicate our decision to the state government within 72 hours,” Roy said. “As we still hold the majority in SMC, our councillors met at the civic body this afternoon. Before the deadline, we submitted our appeal to the authorities seeking permission to form the board at the SMC. Copies of the letter have also been sent to the state UDMA department, the Darjeeling district magistrate, the SDO of Siliguri, and the commissioner of the SMC,” he added.
Trinamool came to power in the SMC in February 2022 after bagging 37 of the 47 seats.
However, following Deb’s resignation as mayor, five councillors resigned from their posts as members of the mayor-in-council or as councillors, and some even severed ties with the party.
Also, eight among the remaining 32 were absent from Monday’s meeting and did not sign the application.
An SMC official said that the appeal submitted by the 24 councillors regarding the formation of the civic board was formally forwarded to the state on Monday evening.
Later in the evening, the order from the state government appointing Vimala as administrator reached the SMC.
“The state has appointed an administrator in the SMC as in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Once the administrator assumes office, we will seek further instructions from the state,” said the official.