BMC, Asansol Mayors take oath, promise to live upto expectations

Kolkata: Firhad Hakim, the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, on Friday attended the oath-taking ceremony of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Krishna Chakraborty and Chairman Sabyasachi Dutta and said that Team Mamata Banerjee will work for the people of Bidhannagar and Rajarhat.

On Friday afternoon at around 2 pm, the newly elected BMC councillors took oath. It was administered by BMC Commissioner Debasish Ghosh. At around 4:30 pm, Chakraborty and Dutta took oath at the FD park where necessary arrangements were made. The oath of Mayor and Chairman was administered by Protem Speaker Tulsi Sinha Roy who is also a councillor. Though Anita Mondal's name has been announced as Deputy Mayor, she will be taking the oath with other Members Mayor in Councils (MMiC) soon. While addressing the gathering, Hakim praised the work of BMC stating that in some cases, they have done well compared to KMC. Krishna Chakraborty, Mayor of BMC for the second time, said: "Since we have provided good service to people, we have been blessed by them. It is our commitment that we will establish a new and developed Bidhannagar."

She also pointed out that due to the Covid situation and narrow pipelines, supply of drinking water could not be started in the Rajarhat segment of the civic body. This time, special emphasis will be given to Rajarhat as it is a part of BMC. MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, MLA Sujit Bose, Nirmal Ghosh, Tapas Chatterjee and other dignitaries were present during the oath-taking ceremony.

Meanwhile, Bidhan Upadhyay took the oath as Mayor of Asansol Municipal Corporation on Friday. Wasimul Haque and Abhijit Ghatak took oath as deputy mayors. The state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department will do the necessary amendment to the municipal laws to accommodate the two deputy mayors.

In the 106 ward of the Asansol Municipal Corporation, Trinamool has 91 councillors while the BJP, Left Front, Congress and others have 7, 2, 3 and 3 councillors respectively.

After taking oath, Upadhyay, who is also an MLA from Barabani Assembly seat, said his prime work would be to carry out all-round development in Asansol. "I will follow the instructions of Didi and carry out all-round development of the area."

Traffic congestion and waterlogging along with drinking water crisis in some pockets will be addressed by the new civic board. Attempts will be made to improve the road condition. Upadhyay said the councillors will meet residents of the wards regularly to listen to their grievances. "Asansol is a cosmopolitan city and people from different communities live here peacefully. People from different areas, including the neighbouring districts come to do business. The infrastructure of the city will be improved and it will be beautified. Steps will be taken to reduce wasteful expenditure," he maintained.