POLITICS-Bill passed to extend term of administrators in municipalities

The West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday amended West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993 to increase the tenure of administrators in municipalities in the state and provide the authorities greater scope for heritage conservation. The bill came in the backdrop of the BJP taking over several Trinamool Congress-run municipalities after its councilors joined the saffron party following the latter's impressive performance in the Lok Sabha election in the state.

Opposition members raised objections to the amendment bill saying the TMC government is avoiding elections in municipalities, the terms of which had ended, and appointing administrators in those civic bodies. The TMC has resorted to this undemocratic means to continue their control in them, though the party has lost the people's confidence, they claimed.

BJP member Manoj Tigga said elections can be delayed only if there are emergency situations but there is none here. West Bengal is now in a state of super-emergency, he said wondering if the ruling party is afraid of elections.

Municipal Affair Minister Firhad Hakim said the term of the administrators has been extended for sake of people. Otherwise, leaders will remain engaged in polls round the year and development works will come to a standstill, he asserted.

The Assembly had last Thursday passed two amendment bills to enable the West Bengal government to extend the tenure of administrators in the state's municipal corporations from the current six months to one year. A number of TMC leaders including six MLAs have joined the BJP after it emerged as a strong challenger to the state's ruling party by winning 18 Lok Sabha seats of the total 42.

The saffron party has also taken over six TMC-run municipalities in the state after the majority of its elected representatives switched sides to the BJP. Of the six municipalities, five are from North 24 Parganas district and one from Darjeeling district.

The Mamata Banerjee government has dissolved the Darjeeling and Naihati Municipalities and appointed administrators there to run the civic bodies for a period of six months or till the new councilors take over. The amendment bill, which was passed on Tuesday, will also enable the municipal authorities to increase the ambit of preservation of heritage structures.

Meanwhile, Hakim claimed that Halisahar Municipality, one of the five civic bodies talem over by the BJP in the North 24 Parganas district, is still under the control of the TMC. Presenting several councilors of that municipality before the media in the assembly premises, he alleged that the BJP had taken them to Delhi under threat.

Now they have returned from the national capital and the state government has arranged for police protection for them including its chairman, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)