Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections to be held by December 7: CM Suvendu Adhikari

Recently, Firhad Hakim resigned from the post of KMC Mayor. Although the board’s tenure was until December this year, it was dissolved due to the Mayor’s resignation, following which the Municipal Affairs and Urban Development Department appointed Municipal Commissioner Smita Pandey as the Administrator.

The KMC elections were scheduled for April-May 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not possible to conduct the polls back then. Following the 2021 Assembly elections, the KMC polls were held in December where TMC formed the municipal board by winning 137 out of 144 wards.

In view of the upcoming monsoons, Adhikari also urged everyone to cooperate with the civic officials and police.

“If you look at the history of the last five or six years, cyclones and natural calamities didn’t just damage properties but many people also lost their lives. Emergency services have to be provided 24×7. It cannot be accomplished by relying solely on the Commissioner or administrative officials, engineers, or just municipal workers, or even the police. I pray for this cooperation from all of you. Under the Amrut Yojana, where the cost-sharing ratio with the Government of India is 60:40—60% is given by the Central Government and 40% by us—we can give another Rs 500 crore.”

Adhikari also accused the previous TMC government of not executing the Namami Gange project.

“The TMC government did not get the STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) centers properly. We are trying to increase the number of STP stations and carry out works worth another Rs 500 crore under Namami Gange. Apart from this, through the Urban Challenge Fund and Swachh Bharat, the Central Government and the State Government can work together.

I would request the Urban Development Secretary to ensure that Kolkata faces no issues during this period. I would also ask the Minister, as well as the Minister of State for your department, Umesh Rai, to keep a special eye on the Kolkata Corporation along with the Howrah Corporation and Bidhannagar Corporation. If needed, we will extend further cooperation,” he added.

Urging the people to keep surroundings clean, Adhikari said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Kolkata on International Yoga Day. We want to welcome him to a clean city. Therefore, I request everyone’s cooperation for the cleanliness programmes. I will be participating in the cleanliness drive adjacent to the Ganga on June 17 and 18. We will also organise a half-marathon for cleanliness on 19, which will start from the gate of the Kolkata Corporation and end in front of the Writers’ Building.”

“Kolkata is like mini-India. So many corporate offices and government department headquarters are located in the city. From the Metro network and circular railway to major railway stations are located here. Naturally, there are certain duties of the Corporation in this city that are not handled by either the State or the Central Government,” he added.