Staff Reporter :
AVAIN attempt was made by corporators of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday to corner Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe and lift the ban imposed on new development works in Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The move by BJP to take on heavy weight Municipal Commissioner however failed to work as Mundhe maintained his stand, he said as the finances of civic body are poor it makes no sense to lift the stay imposed on new works. BJP is making a public cause of being unable to carry out development works and fulfil aspirations of citizens by trying to corner new Municipal Commissioner. The nearly half an hour meeting at New Administrative Building of NMC in Civil Lines saw some heated moments as corporators tried to dominate the moment as per their pre-decided strategy. However Municipal Commissioner remained unimpressed and sticked to his stand that he made during the special general body meeting of NMC House.
Mundhe told the BJP delegation that only those projects whose work orders were not issued are withheld and there is no ban on new works, only they would need to be prioritised. Senior corporator Dayashankar Tiwari recalled when LBT was forced on NMC, the then Municipal Commissioner had said that NMC would not face any financial crunch. Now, Commissioner is giving excuse of financial crunch but why should development works be stalled as ultimately citizens are the loosers.
Commissioner reasoned that there is no blanket stoppage but at the same time NMC has compulsory liability of nearly Rs 400 crores and that cannot be missed.The dues are mounting and how long can civic body delay the payment. Also Mundhe said nearly Rs 150 to Rs 200 crores of Income Tax and Group Provident Fund needs to be transferred and if receipts are not in that order, works must be prioritised. Mundhe said the current situation has arisen due to difference in perception, as civic budget is popular and can risk populism, but Commissioner budget reflect on actual accruals. The difference between two budgets results in gap one which causes the problem.
So currently Commissioner impressed upon BJP delegation to bear with situation as he is yet to take complete grasp of financial situation of NMC and said administration as well as corporators are duty bound to development of city. Office bearers of various committees Balya Borkar, Virendra Kukreja, former Mayor Nanda Jichkar, Mahendra Dhanvijay, Pragati Patil, former Dy Mayor Deepraj Pardikar, senior corproator Sunil Agrawal and others were part of the 111 corporators strong delegation.