TMC civic bodies ‘in limbo’, govt focus on civic services

Kolkata/Howrah: The new govt's second cabinet meeting on Monday focused on the "collapse of civic services" in Trinamool-run urban local bodies, including the Kolkata, Bidhannagar and Howrah municipal corporations. Ministers linked the decline to poll setbacks and defeats of senior Trinamool leaders in several urban pockets, saying the worsening situation had forced intervention.Amid concerns over administrative drift after the assembly polls, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee directed KMC MMiCs to attend office daily and ensure uninterrupted civic services. "Municipal bodies are autonomous institutions… No one else can interfere in the functioning of that board," Banerjee said at a meeting with KMC representatives at the party office near her Kalighat residence. Sources said she questioned several MMiCs over irregular attendance.At the KMC headquarters, officials were awaiting approvals to revive projects stalled since the model code of conduct came into force before the polls. Pending proposals included a Rs 100 crore drainage upgrade along the EM Bypass, pumping stations at Amherst Street and Taratala, and a road smoothening project for Bypass stretches. The water supply department also sought clearance for booster pumping stations in the Tollygunge-Jadavpur belt.In Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, road repairs and drainage work in Salt Lake and Rajarhat Gopalpur slowed as officials awaited fresh policy directions before issuing tenders. BJP MLAs Sharadwat Mukherjee and Piyush Kanoria met civic officials to review pending projects and pressed for immediate repairs and drainage upgrades in several waterlogging-prone areas. Mayor Krishna Chakraborty said talks focused on improving civic services and identifying areas where execution needed to be strengthened.In Howrah, residents alleged a collapse of civic services, citing broken roads, garbage accumulation and poor drainage. Howrah Central MLA Arup Roy admitted the poll outcome reflected "years of deteriorating conditions". BJP leader Om Prakash Singh alleged that despite repeated administrator boards, "no work has been done" and corruption had flourished.