With the removal of two ministers, Arup Roy and Rathin Ghosh, as chairmen of the board of administrators (BoA) of Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) and Madhyamgram Municipality, respectively, speculation is rife that Firhad Hakim, state transport and housing minister, may also be removed from Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) as the head of its BoA soon.

According to the TMC’s new organisational rules that focus on ‘one person one post’, no ministers would be allowed to hold more than one administrative portfolio. In a directive issued by the state secretariat Nabanna today, the government has removed both Arup Roy, cooperation minister and Rathin Ghosh, food minister, from Howrah and Madhyamgram civic bodies.

Dr Sujoy Chakraborty, a prominent paediatrician in Howrah city, and cousin of Rathin Chakraborty, former mayor of TMC-ruled HMC, has been made new chairman of the BoA of the municipal corporation. Rathin had joined BJP before the assembly polls held in the state in April.

A senior TMC leader in Howrah said that Dr Sujoy Chakraborty would be HMC mayor after civic polls. His appointment as an administrator in HMC paves his way to become the mayor in Howrah.

Meanwhile, a TMC insider, requesting anonymity, felt that Firhad’s days in the KMC as its administrative head are numbered because of the new rules in the party. Sources in the state urban development and municipal affairs (UDMA) said that elections in civic bodies like Kolkata, Howrah, Siliguri and other towns would be held after the Durga puja festivals in the state. Till then chairmen in respective BoAs would head the civic services in the state.

Major changes have been brought into the Trinamul district leadership, supposedly for better organisational and administrative setup. The entire district has been divided into two separate organisational units based on Lok Sabha seats in the Serampore ~ Hooghly district unit, and the Arambagh district unit.

Jangipara MLA Snehashis Chakraborty has been appointed as the new district president of the Serampore district unit core committee while Ramendu Sinha Roy is the new district president of Arambagh district unit. New faces have found their place in the Hooghly Serampore district unit’s core committee. Ashima Patra is the district chairman. The district women president is Shilpi Chatterjee. The youth president is Runa Khatun Das and the district INTTUC president is Manoj Chakraborty.

In the Arambagh district unit core committee, Joy Deb Jana is the chairman while the women president is Shikha Dolai. The youth president is Palash Roy and the district INTTUC president is Uttam Kundu. Meanwhile, the new Serampore municipality administrator is Gour Mohan Dey and the new Konnagar civic administrator is Tanmay Deb.

New administrators in five municipalities in Burdwan East and two in Bankura were appointed yesterday. Pronob Chatterjee, the former commissioner in Burdwan Municipality, took charge as the administrator of the civic body on Tuesday. Ainul Haq, the former chairman was assigned as the vice-chairperson along with former councillor Alpana Haldar.

On 23 October 2013, the first TMC governed Board had assumed charge in Burdwan Municipality. Rabindranath Chatterjee, MLA, Katwa has been crowned as the Burdwan East district president of the TMC. He is also assigned to continue as the administrator of the Katwa Municipality.

Sisir Mondal took charge as the administrator of the neighbouring Dainhat Municipality. Swapan Bishoie is the new administrator for Memari Municipality and Ananda Dutta was asked to take charge of Kalna Municipality as administrator.

The chairman of the Kalna Municipality, Debaprasad Bag has been elected as the MLA, Kalna this year. Archita Bid was made the administrator for Bishnupur Municipality in Bankura. She replaced Dibyendu Banerjee. Debjit Kundu and Goutam Goswami have been engaged as vice-chairpersons for Bishnupur Municipality. The Sonamukhi Municipality though didn’t see any alterations.