Kolkata June 09: Work at Trinamool Congress-controlled Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) came to a virtual standstill today after seven KMC Mayors-in-Council members allegedly assaulted municipal commissioner Debashis Som demanding withdrawal of a circular issued by him. Som told newsmen that MIC Anup Chatterjee called him at his chmaber in the KMC around 1.00 p.M. And asked him to come to the conference room, saying that seven MICs were waiting there to discuss with him the contents of the circular.
Som, in his circular dated June 5, had said that he would take orders from the mayor only and not from any MIC.
''I told them that I was in a meeting and it would take some time before I could meet them. A few minutes later, MICs Pradip Ghosh and Anup Chatterjee entered my room and tried to drag me towards the conference room,'' he alleged.
He, however, went to the conference room as demanded by Ghosh and Chatterjee and there, five other MICs joined them demanding to see the rules which stipulated that only mayor was the controlling authority of the municipal commissioner.
When Som quoted the relevant municipal rules which stated that the mayor was the controlling authority of the municipal commissioner, the MICs claimed that the rules never specified that the MICs had no authority over the commissioner.
''At this point of time, the MICs, led by Pradip Ghosh, assaulted me and I sustained bruises in the melee,'' he said and alleged Ghosh had also threatened to assault him at "his residence, on the road or anywhere else."
Som said that he had brought the incident to the notice of mayor Subrata Mukherjee, municipal affairs secretary Dipankar Mukhopadhyay and chief secretary Sourin Roy. Home secretary A K Deb had asked him to lodge an FIR.
Bureau Report