In a 1st, Cabinet meet to be held in Salt Lake today

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress-led government will hold its Cabinet meeting for the first time in Salt Lake since Mamata Banerjee took over as the Chief Minister of the state in 2011 on Monday.

The meeting that will be held at Unnayan Bhavan, which happens to be the headquarters of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).

It will be the 37th Cabinet meeting since 2021, after TMC-led government was elected for the third time.

Earlier, there have been instances when the Cabinet meeting had been held outside the state Secretariat. Uttarkanya, the district Secretariat at Phulbari had hosted the Cabinet meeting for the first time in February 2014 which was chaired by Banerjee. Banerjee had also held a Cabinet meeting at Raj Bhavan in Darjeeling in June 2017. Several Cabinet meetings have been held at the state Legislative Assembly too.

According to legal experts, Cabinet meetings can be held at any government office.

In 1972, when late Siddharta Shankar Ray was the Chief Minister, he had chaired the Cabinet meeting at Darjeeling. There have been earlier records of hosting Cabinet meet in Raj Bhavan too.

According to Nabanna sources, Chief Minister had decided to hold the meeting at Unnayan Bhavan because of its close proximity to the Central Park venue of Kolkata International Book Fair. Banerjee will inaugurate the Book Fair at 2 pm, soon after the

Cabinet meeting.