Kolkata, Sep 15 - Desperate to tone up the state administration after a string of electoral drubbings, the West Bengal government has decided to introduce a Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on lines of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), an official said here Tuesday.

'The office will function like the PMO and will expedite the ongoing projects and intra-departmental surveys across the state. It will also coordinate with various state departments to speed up work,' said Subesh Das, principal secretary to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

He said the principal secretary to the chief minister would head the CMO.

'This proposal will be placed in the next cabinet meeting. And if it's approved by the cabinet members, we'll introduce the office from this year itself,' Das said.

Incidentally, the announcement about the CMO came on a day the ruling Left front lost hold of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation in North Bengal, which it had governed for the last 27 years.