BMC waits for administrator, MLA coordinates

Kolkata: Efforts are underway to appoint an administrator at Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) following Krishna Chakraborty’s resignation from the post of mayor on Thursday.

Bidhannagar MLA Sharadwat Mukherjee on Friday said that he will soon discuss the matter with the CM to come out with a solution to this stalemate. Mukherjee said that given the present scenario, where the councillors could not be contacted or found, an administrator is needed at the earliest for running the civic body.

“The Bidhannagar civic body is without a head now. We need to have a head for the civic body very soon. If it does not come through elected representation, then a person needs to be nominated to take charge. Till then, the commissioner will continue to look after the administration and I will be helping him with all my resources,” Mukherjee said. The MLA has been frequently visiting the BMC headquarters to discuss various civic issues with the commissioner and other officials.

Chakraborty on Thursday resigned from the BMC mayor’s post, citing personal reasons. Chakraborty later said that she was not able to properly carry out the day-to-day work of the civic body. She also said that she felt it was increasingly becoming difficult to provide civic services in the changed scenario and that she was not feeling comfortable to continue as the mayor.

Civic officials said that councillors of a civic corporation can approach the chairperson or commissioner to hold a meeting to discuss nominating a councillor to be the next mayor but nobody has approached the civic authorities so far.

BMC chairperson Sabyasachi Dutta said that none of the councillors had approached him till now over the issue. “The councillors meeting can be called by the commissioner and conducted by the chairperson. None of the councillors has approached me to become the mayor so far,” Dutta said.

Residents said that during Chakraborty’s 7-year tenure, civic infrastructure in Salt Lake had deteriorated with broken roads, dysfunctional streetlights and inadequate waste collection.