Though local minister of East Burdwan district, Swapan Debnath has termed it as a routine exercise of the government, the BJP, CPM and the Congress have raised questions about retaining a person as vice-chairperson, who has been convicted in a murder case and is presently on bail after court orders.
Former MLA and former mentor of East Burdwan district zilla parishad, Ujjal Pramanik has been appointed as the new chairman of Burdwan Development Authority (BDA). Ujjal Pramanik was a former MLA of Jamalpur Assembly seat.
In an order issued a couple of days ago by Mohammed Ghulam Ali Ansari, principal secretary of urban development and municipal affairs department has appointed Ujjal Pramanik as the new chairman replacing Kakoli Gupta Ta.
Kakoli Gupta Ta, the Burdwan number one block president of Trinamul Congress and the chairperson of Burdwan Development Authority, has been appointed as the vice-chairperson of BDA along with Ainul Haq.
In recent times there is no instance of a sitting chairman of a development authority being demoted as vice-chairman in West Bengal.
With this fresh notification, for the first time BDA will have two vice-chairman posts. Ainul Haq, a former CPM leader, was also the former vice-chairman of Burdwan Municipality.
Kakoli Gupta Ta was convicted by a court on charges of murder of a TMC supporter a few years ago and is on bail. She is also seriously ill at present.
This new appointment has created a stir and both the BJP and the CPM leadership have raised questions on her fresh appointment and posting.
Amal Ta, CPM leader of East Burdwan, has questioned the appointment of Kakoli Gupta Ta and said that the state government should not reappoint her as she is already convicted in a serious criminal case.
The Burdwan BJP unit also said they will campaign on this issue soon.