Calcutta: The Trinamul Congress on Tuesday named Subodh Chakraborty and Lopamudra Dutta Chowdhury as chairman and vice-chairperson of North Dum Dum Municipality, respectively.

The changes were effected following reports that outgoing vice-chairman Sheikh Nazimuddin had been assaulted in the civic office by two contractors.

Food and supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick, who is president of the North 24-Parganas unit of the ruling party, made the announcement after a meeting with Trinamul's Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy and other leaders at Bhavan in Calcutta.

"Subodh Chakraborty and Lopamudra Dutta Chowdhury will replace chairman Kalyan Kar and vice-chairman Sheikh Nazimuddin immediately," Mullick said.

Trinamul sources said the party leadership had been embarrassed by the alleged attack on Nazimuddin by a couple of contractors a fortnight ago.

"The attack inside the municipality building brought out into the open the fight between Kar and Nazimuddin. The matter was reported to party leaders," a source said.

Sources in North Dum Dum Municipality added that two contractors had assaulted Nazimuddin when he apparently told them that he would grant the contract to develop a park to others if they failed to start work immediately.

"The two contractors had been given the work order to develop the park eight months back but the project had not yet started. Nazimuddin had asked them to start work or else the contract would be transferred to someone else. This led to the attack on Nazimuddin," a source close to the outgoing vice-chairman said.

Nazimuddin's supporters had demanded the arrest of the two accused and an aide of the outgoing chairman. All three were subsequently arrested.

"The contractors would not have dared to attack the vice-chairman without the chairman's tacit support. As the chairman and the vice-chairman have brought disrepute to the party, both of them have been removed," said a source.

Saplings

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) would plant one lakh saplings during the monsoon this year across the city.

The species of plants will be decided after talks with experts, sources in the CMC said.