banerjee: Firhad Hakim is mayor again, CM Mamata Banerjee draws up Kolkata’s development roadmap | Kolkata News – Times of India

KOLKATA: Firhad Hakim would be the next mayor, Atin Ghosh the deputy mayor and Mala Roy the KMC chairperson, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday after a meeting with the party’s newly elected councillors. Four new faces have been inducted into the 13-member mayoral council while three outgoing MMiCs have been dropped even as nine of the corporation’s 16 boroughs are set to be headed by women.
Banerjee said she was open to “any opposition” to the proposed panel, but the thunderous applause after her announcement made it clear it was a “unanimous” decision. Banerjee herself set the pace for the new team at the helm of the city’s welfare. “Your work begins today,” she said. “You need to first clear up the hoardings and posters and clean up localities.”

Hakim’s selection to the mayoral chair capped 48 hours of speculation since poll results were out on Tuesday. And Hakim, before starting his second term as mayor, seemed eager to meet the high expectations head-on.
“I will work with my life to repose the faith my leader and the party have put on me. We will try together to fulfil her dreams for Kolkata,” he told the press.
“We have to make Kolkata the best of the best. You have to work better than what you did in the past decade,” the chief minister told the party’s councillors.
Laying out the roadmap for the new board, Banerjee stressed on online migration of all KMC work, including building sanctions. She also urged the new office-bearers to consider implementing vertical structures to decongest congested neighbourhoods. She urged the corporation to revamp its road-repair process and urged it to hasten the landdeed process in refugee colonies.
She made it clear that the 10 party candidates who lost the poll would be “engaged by the KMC”. She also made it clear that “accountability to people” would be the new mantra.
Jiban Saha, Sandeep Ranjan Bakshi, Sandipan Saha and Mitali Banerjee are the new MMiCs in a proposed list packed by veterans which includes Debasish Kumar, Debabrata Majumdar, Tarak Singh, Swapan Samaddar, Amiruddin Bobby, Avijit Mukherjee, Ram Pyare Ram and Baishanor Chattopadhyay.
She also urged councillors to be humble.
“I understand we have been unable to give a place to everyone,” Banerjee said. “There are 40 first-time councillors. Pooja (Panja), Vansundhara (Goswami), Sandipan (Saha), Rana (Saurav Basu) have left their careers behind to work for the party. Now it is the time for you to learn work.”