Kolkata, Oct. 7 -- The Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Tuesday carried out a major reshuffle of its senior administration, changing several key departmental assignments, including removing Ujjal Sarkar as Director General (Building) and shifting him to the Uttaran and slum development department.
The reshuffle comes months after the collapse of an under-construction warehouse roof at Taratala on June 24, in which 17 people were killed.
The incident had put the civic body's Building department under scrutiny. Former mayor Firhad Hakim's officer-on-special-duty, Kalicharan Bandyopadhyay, was arrested in connection with the case and was granted bail on Tuesday. The timing of Sarkar's removal - on the same day as Bandyopadhyay secured bail - has triggered discussion within the civic administration. Officials, however, described the changes as routine.
Questions had also been raised over the functioning of the Building department after an illegal under-construction structure collapsed in the Kolkata Port area in March 2024, killing 13 people. Three civic engineers were suspended after the incident, but no action was taken against the DG (Building).
The Taratala collapse subsequently renewed calls within the civic body for changes in the Building department.
The latest reshuffle has also affected several other senior positions. DG (Mechanical) Bishnu Das Mondal has been relieved of the Asphaltum responsibility and given additional charge of the Car Pool. Shubhajit Dasgupta has been appointed DG of Roads, while Durjoy Sarkar has been given charge of Parks.
Shantanu Roy has been shifted from Parks to Civil Engineering. Mridul Mondal has been made executive DG of Markets, while Mrinal Kanti Mondal has been moved to KMC-SHARP. Biplab Pal has been appointed executive DG of the Building department.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.