Left Front councillors at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) staged a walkout during the monthly board meeting of the civic body on Thursday, protesting against what they described as an “unfair and undemocratic” response from the Trinamool Congress–led treasury bench.

During the meeting, CPM councillor Saradindu Chakraborty raised concerns over the worsening traffic congestion in the city and put forward several proposals to address the issue.

However, Md Alam Khan, a Trinamool councillor, interrupted him without civic chairman Pratul Chakraborty’s consent, sparking a heated exchange.

Khan argued that the traffic problem did not arise overnight and pointed out that Trinamool had been in power in the SMC for only three years.

He further alleged that the city’s development had stagnated during the Left’s long tenure in the civic body.

His comments prompted all four Left councillors to unite in a strong protest.

They accused Chakraborty, the civic chairman, of violating procedural norms by not allowing them to present their issues, and subsequently walked out of the conference hall in protest.

“We demand an open debate where we can showcase the development work carried out in Siliguri during the Left Front’s tenure,” said Nurul Islam, the leader of the Left councillors in SMC.

“However, the chairman did not allow us to speak and stopped us unlawfully, which forced us to leave the meeting,” he added.

Siliguri mayor Gautam Deb criticised the walkout.

“The Left Front was in power at the SMC for over 30 years, and yet, they did no proper planning for the city. Instead of walking out, the Left councillors should have stayed on and monitored the progress of the meeting. They must remember that Rome was not built in a day—something that we tried to remind them,” said the mayor.

BJP’s proposal

Amit Jain, the leader of the Opposition at SMC and a BJP councillor, demanded immediate steps to improve fire safety measures at the key installations, markets, and apartment complexes across the city at the civic body meeting on Thursday.

“During the past few months, there had been incidents of fire in different parts of the civic area,” Jain said. “In many cases, congestion prevented the fire tenders from reaching the site of the blaze on time, and fire safety systems were found non-functional.”

“We urge the civic board to conduct regular inspections with the fire department and develop a comprehensive plan to prevent such incidents in the future,” he added.

In response, Siliguri mayor Gautam Deb assured Jain that a meeting would soon be held with all stakeholders, including officials from the state fire and emergency services department.

“As a part of the initiative, surveys will be conducted to identify locations for installing fire hydrants in busy marketplaces,” said Deb.