Kolkata Municipal Corporation is the regulatory authority to oversee the civic administration of Kolkata and the basic infrastructure of the city. Sri Bikash Bhattacharya, the present Mayor of Kolkata heads Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
Activities of KMC
Kolkata is a metropolitan city with a total population of about 4.6 million. KMC is primarily responsible in carrying out activities as below:
- Providing purified and clean water to the citizens of Kolkata
- Running Waste Management Programs
- Construction and maintenance of buildings, roads and bridges in Kolkata
- Sewage management and dumping
- Maintenance of Crematoriums in Kolkata
- Road cleaning and street lighting
- Maintenance of parks and recreational areas in Kolkata
- Running immunization programs
- Registration of births and deaths in Kolkata
- Supervising Public municipal schools in Kolkata
- Preservation and maintenance of heritage sites
- Slum development
Projects and Programs:
Kolkata Municipal Corporation adopts some development projects to improve the living standards of Kolkata city. One of such projects is Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP), which is primarily designed to check the environmental degradation in Kolkata. This will eventually upgrade the quality of living in Kolkata. The project, supported by DFID (Department of International Development) also aims to better the service delivery mechanism of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
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Historical Background of Kolkata Municipal Corporation:
The idea of establishing Calcutta Corporation came about after the foundation of the first Mayor's Court in 1726. From 19th century, several experiments were carried out and attempted to establish Municipal Corporation of Calcutta. It was Mr. Surendranath Bannerjee, popularly known as 'Rashtraguru', who first constituted the Act of 1923 to liberalize the constitution of democratic lines of the government. In 1924, Chittaranjan Das was elected as the Mayor of Kolkata.
In 1984, a new Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) Act was introduced to make the Corporation more effective. The three authorities of KMC are:
- The Mayor
- The Mayor-in-Council and
- The Corporation
The new Act ensured the total number of elected councilors to be 141.
Objectives of KMC:
The primary objective of KMC is to provide effective and beneficial services to the citizens of Kolkata in a well-timed manner. The other objectives include improving the living standards of slum-dwellers and establishing a transparent civic administration to satisfy the citizens of Kolkata.
Statistics of KMC:
- Total areas covered under KMC: 187.33 sq km
- Total number of buildings within the periphery of KMC: about 1 million
- Total Road Length: 1850 km
- Total number of Wards: 141
- Total number of employees in KMC (as on 31.03.2003): 37,829
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