Firhad Hakim elected as first muslim mayor of Kolkata
Kolkata, Dec 3: West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim on Monday became the first Muslim since independence to be elected as the Kolkata mayor.
Hakim secured 121 votes in the 144-member Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to win the mayoral election. BJP's Meena Devi Purohit bagged five votes, while 12 Left Front and two Congress councillors had boycotted the election.
The result of the election, conducted through secret ballots, was announced by the civic body's municipal secretary, Harihar Prasad Mondal. It was necessitated following the resignation of Sovan Chatterjee from the post on November 22.
Hakim, who also holds the portfolio of municipal affairs, said his victory was also a "moral defeat" for the BJP.
Purohit had claimed last week that she would receive more votes than her party's strength in the KMC, hinting at a possibility of cross-voting. The election results, however, indicated that there was no cross-voting.
The TMC has 122 seats in the KMC House, the Left Front 14, the BJP five, the Congress two, while one seat is vacant. Sources said one TMC councillor gave the election a miss due to ill-health.
After being elected the 29th mayor of the city since independence, Hakim said he should be known by his work and not by his religion and spelt out various development initiatives.
"I will work for the development and beautification of the city. I will work towards making the city pollution-free," he said.
Hakim said the people would get tax rebates if they took up efforts to plant trees in their houses. He also stressed on waste management and recycling to keep the city clean.
The new mayor also announced a WhatsApp number, asking the citizens to inform about their problems and come up with suggestions to improve the municipal services.
Steps would be taken to ensure that there was no waterlogging in the city during heavy rainfall, he said.
Last week, CPI(M) councillor Bilquis Begum had moved the Calcutta High Court challenging Hakim's candidature in the mayoral polls on the ground that he was not a councillor from any ward of the civic body. The high court had on Friday refused to stay the election.
Hakim, was chosen as the mayor designate by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) councillors on November 22 in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Talking to media after the announcement of the poll results, Hakim's predecessor Chatterjee extended his best wishes to the new mayor. "I am sure the KMC will function well under the leadership of the new mayor," he said.
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Karnataka: Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre unveils plan for scientific disposal of plastic bottles
Bengaluru: In a bid to address the mounting plastic waste problem, Eshwar B. Khandre, Minister for Forests, Ecology, and Environment, has directed the additional chief secretary of the department to formulate regulations that will require packaged water bottle manufacturers to take responsibility for the scientific disposal of plastic bottles.
As part of the proposed plan, Khandre has suggested introducing a minimum price for each water bottle, which would be refunded when the bottle is returned to any establishment selling packaged water, as reported by Deccan Herald on Monday.
Under this initiative, when a person buys a new water bottle, the minimum price for each returned bottle would be discounted from the bill for the new one.
The goal is to ensure that empty bottles are returned to the shops where they were purchased, preventing them from being discarded in public spaces or ending up in the environment. Under the plan, these establishments would then return the empty bottles to manufacturers, who would be responsible for the scientific disposal of the plastic.
Khandre emphasised that the proposed regulations are aimed at tackling plastic pollution more effectively. Although the central government has already banned the manufacture, storage, sale, and use of certain single-use plastics, and the state government has enacted similar regulations, plastic waste continues to be a significant environmental challenge.
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