Kolkata, May 19 (IANS) The West Bengal Municipal Affairs Department on Tuesday announced the dismantling of the boards of four Trinamool Congress-run urban civic bodies in the state, all located in North Bengal, against which there were serious allegations of operating illegally through administrative boards for a long time without conducting elections for the formation of the boards.

The state government simultaneously announced the transfer of administrative authority of these four urban civic bodies to bureaucratic administrators, in these cases, the concerned sub-divisional officers, until fresh elections are conducted and new board members are elected.

As per the notification issued by the State Municipal Affairs Department, the decision to dismantle the current boards of these four urban civic bodies was taken following advice from the office of Governor R.N. Ravi.

Of the four urban civic bodies, three are in the Darjeeling district, namely Kurseong Municipality, Mirik Notified Area Authority, and Kalimpong Municipality, while one is in South Dinajpur district, namely Buniadpur Municipality.

While the Sub-Divisional Officer of Gangarampur has been appointed as the administrator for Buniadpur Municipality, the Sub-Divisional Officers of Kurseong, Mirik, and Kalimpong have been appointed as administrators for Kurseong Municipality, Mirik Notified Area Authority, and Kalimpong Municipality, respectively.

The last elections to Kurseong Municipality, Mirik Notified Area Authority, and Kalimpong Municipality were held in May 2017.

The then-ruling Trinamool Congress, in association with its local hill allies, took control of the boards of these three authorities.

However, even after the terms of these boards expired in April 2022, the state government did not hold elections.

Instead, the then chairmen of the boards of these three urban civic bodies were appointed as administrators.

The opposition alleged that appointing the chairmen of the urban civic body boards as administrators effectively left the municipalities’ powers in the hands of the ruling party.

Similarly, after the formation of Buniadpur Municipality, elections were held on August 13, 2017.

However, the term of the Trinamool Congress-run Municipal Board ended in September 2022, and there too elections were not held. Instead, the chairman of the previous board was appointed administrator.

Now, with the change of regime in West Bengal, with the Bharatiya Janata Party forming its first government in the state since Independence, the new state government has decided to dismantle such allegedly illegally run boards and appoint bureaucratic administrators until further elections are held.

–IANS

src/dan