Asok has his way with govt on civic board ..... Mamata Banerjee govt amends notification and issus a new one without TMC councillors

TT,  17.05.20, Siliguri: The Mamata Banerjee government on Saturday reconstituted the board of administrators for the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, within 24 hours of outgoing mayor and CPM veteran Asok Bhattacharya declining to head the interim body as Trinamul councillors had been included in it.

All seven members of the reconstituted board, including Asok, are from the Left. The tenure of the Left-run SMC board will end on Sunday.

To ensure that civic services continue in the absence of an elected board, particularly during the pandemic, the state had come up with a notification announcing the constitution of a 12-member board of administrators for the SMC.

Asok was named the chairperson. Six other Left councillors were named as board members. However, the notification left Asok, also the Siliguri MLA, fuming as the government had included Ranjan Sarkar, the leader of Opposition in the SMC, and four other Trinamul councillors in the board of administrators.

“In no other civic body of the state has Opposition councillors been included in the board of administrators. The only exception was made in the case of the SMC and so I had refused to join the board of administrators. We felt it was a politically prejudiced decision and reflected the vindictive attitude of the state,” Asok had said.

The state has now amended the notification and issued a new one where only Asok and six other Left councillors have been named as members. “We are thankful to the state for finally realising the mistake and reconstituting the board. We will join the board on Monday and our primary focus will be to deliver to Siliguri residents during the pandemic,” Asok said.