After KMC no-House order, Trinamool reps meet at councillors’ club in HQ

Kolkata: The KMC crisis deepened on Friday even as the civic body chairperson, Mala Roy, led a team of Trinamool councillors to conduct the KMC monthly meeting at the councillors' club room, giving a thumbs down to a notice on the postponement of the KMC House, issued by the outgoing municipal secretary, Swapan Kumar Kundu. This is the first time in KMC history that the House was held outside the traditional Council Chamber. Roy alleged despite asking the incumbent municipal secretary, Kishore Kumar Biswas, to arrange for the House at Council Chamber, he didn't direct the caretaker of the civic headquarters to unlock it. Roy then decided to hold the meeting at the councillors' club, where an adjournment motion was brought by the Trinamool councillor, Sanghita Das, condemning the "whimsical decisions", taken by municipal commissioner Smita Pandey, hampering the democratic fabric of the civic board and its elected representatives. The motion was accepted by all the 90 Trinamool councillors present at the meeting. Roy later lodged a complaint at New Market PS "for illegal restraint of the House".Mayor Firhad Hakim criticised the municipal commissioner for taking undemocratic decisions. "What happened on Friday was an insult to the board and our elected councillors," he said. Hakim hoped the Trinamool board would be allowed to function normally. "We would like to work together with the govt for citizens' benefit. The monsoon is approaching, and we are yet to start the special de-silting drive. If the stalemate continues, we can't prevent flooding of streets in the rains," he said. Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh felt the municipal commissioner was overstepping and creating a stalemate for the civic board to function. MMiC Baiswanor Chatterjee said the KMC Act (1980) gave absolute power to the mayor, under whose direction the municipal commissioner exercised the administrative power. "We are shocked the municipal commissioner is not following KMC rules," he said.TOI's calls and messages to Pandey went unanswered.Municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul and BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya blamed Trinamool functionaries in KMC for the House fiasco. While Paul accused TMC councillors of harassing Kishore K Biswas, Bhattacharya ruled out any attempt at destabilising the civic board. "We will hold elections at the right time and Trinamool will be defeated in KMC," he said. "Trinamool councillors created a ruckus," said BJP MLA Sajal Ghosh.