Swearing-in ceremonies across civic bodies of Hills; TMC vows development

Amitava Banerjee | MP |29 May 2017 Darjeeling: Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik Municipalities on Monday. Kalimpong Municipality will witness the oath taking ceremony on Tuesday.

While the Trinamool Congress will form the board in the Mirik civic body, the Darjeeling, Kurseong Kalimpong Municipal boards will be formed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. Names of the Chairmen to head the Darjeeling, Kurseong and Mirik Municipal boards were also announced.

Incidentally, the Hill Municipalities had gone to polls on May 14 with the counting having taken place on May 17. TMC managed to create a crack in the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) shield, wresting the Mirik Municipality from the grip of the party in power in the Hills while GJM retained the Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong Municipalities.

In Mirik, TMC emerged victorious in six seats while GJM won in three seats. In Darjeeling, GJM won 31 seats with TMC winning a single seat. In Kurseong 17 seats fell in the GJM kitty with the TMC winning three seats. In Kalimpong, the GJM won 18 seats; TMC two seats; two seats were won by the Jan Andolan Party (JAP) and a single seat went to a GJM-backed independent candidate.

The swearing in ceremony in Mirik was attended by the West Bengal PWD Minister Aroop Biswas; Tourism Minister Goutam Deb and Siliguri Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA) Chairman Sourav Chakroborty.

"People have voted for development and we will ensure development. We will change Mirik," assured minister Aroop Biswas. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be visiting Mirik on June 4.

"We will also develop the tourism infrastructure of Mirik along with developing new tourist spots. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be announcing the development programmes while visiting Mirik," stated Minister Deb.

L B Rai was sworn in as the Chairman of the Mirik Municipality with Mani Kumar Tamang as the vice-chairman.

In Kurseong, Krishna Limbu was sworn in as Chairman and Brigen Gurung as the vice-chairman.