Civic polls in Kol & Howrah on Dec 19
Kolkata: The state Cabinet on Tuesday has approved a proposal to separate the Bally Municipality from Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) for better administrative functioning. At the same time, the move has been taken to ensure that people get better civic amenities.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has also agreed to the proposal of the state government to hold the pending civic polls in 144 wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and 50 wards of HMC on December 19.
A resolution to separate Bally Municipality from HMC would be tabled in the state Assembly on November 12 after the Cabinet's approval came in this regard on Tuesday.
According to the sources, the resolution may get finally passed on November 16 against another round of discussion in the house. As per the existing Acts, a resolution needs to be brought in the state Assembly to separate Bally Municipality from the HMC.
It was almost a year ago when the Cabinet had given its nod to separate the municipality, situated in the northern fringes of the Howrah city, from the HMC. But then no resolution was further brought in the Assembly. This time, the resolution would be brought in the House with the Cabinet again giving its nod on Tuesday.
It was in 2015 when Bally Municipality was amalgamated with the HMC taking the total wards under the corporation to 66. With the move to separate Bally Municipality, the HMC would retain its actual 50 wards. Before the amalgamation, there were a total of 35 wards under the Bally Municipality. But it came down to 16 when it amalgamated with HMC with an increase in jurisdiction of each ward. Now, Bally Municipality may get back its original 35 wards.
Sources said the pending civic polls on December 19 would be held only in 50 wards of HMC in such a situation while the schedule of the polls in the Bally Municipality area would be finalised later.
Meanwhile, the BJP moved the Calcutta High Court demanding pending civic polls to be held in one go in all the 122 urban local bodies.
