Firhad Hakim will become Kolkata Mayor for second time

Kolkata, Dec 23 (IANS) Firhad Hakim is all set to become the Mayor of Kolkata for the second successive term.

Retaining most of her trusted lieutenants, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the formation of the new board of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Thursday.

Though there was speculation that Hakim might be replaced but Banerjee decided to entrust the responsibility to the state Transport Minister, and announced Atin Ghosh as the Deputy Mayor.

Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy was once again appointed as the Chairperson of the KMC. While there were no major surprises in the top three ranks of the new KMC board, there were some surprises in the list of members in the Mayor-in-Council and the borough Chairpersons.

Announcing the names, Banerjee said: "The government and party will not hesitate to take action against the non-performers. I am asking all my councillors to keep eyes and ears open and work for the people. There will be a half-yearly review of performance of the board."

The members of the Mayor-in-Council are Ghosh, Debashish Kumar, Amiruddin Bobby, Mitali Banerjee, Deboborto Majumder, Tarak Singh, Babu Bakshi, Boisanar Banerjee, Sandipan Saha, Rampiyari Ram, Sapan Samaddar, Jiban Saha, and Abhijit Mukherjee.

The 16 new borough Chairpersons, include nine women, and are Tarun Saha, Shukla Bhor, Anindya Raut, Sadhana Bose, Rehana Khatun, Shana Ahmed, Sushmita Bhattachraya, Chaitali Chatterjee, Debalina, Jui Biswas, Tarakeshwar Chakraborty, Sushata Ghosh, Ratna Shur, Sanhita Das, Ranajit Shil, and Sudip Pole.

"We will prioritise the development of the city and try to complete all the works mentioned in the manifesto," Hakim said.