Mumbai: Ahead of the civic elections 2017, the councillors have been asked to hand over the SIM cards to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation that were allotted to them while they were elected to office.
The BMC provides every councillor with smart phones worth Rs 10,000 with SIM cards and laptops. According to the Election Commission’s code of conduct, the councillors are supposed to hand over their SIM cards to the civic body 100 days prior to the BMC elections in February 2017. The mobile bills that are up to Rs 1,200 are borne by the civic body after which the corporator pays the extra amount.
However, the civic body is reluctant in sharing the details of money spent on the mobile bills of the councillors. Municipal Secretary Narayan Pathade has straight away refused to give the details of the corporation’s expenditure on the councilor’s mobile bills.
When asked about the amount that the civic body spends on such mobile bills, Pathade said, “Why should we give out such ‘important’ details. We are not liable to give any details to anyone.”
Avkash Jadhav, Shiv Sena Corporator, said, “We have a choice of keeping back the SIM cards, however, the bill generated (from the submission date till the elections) will be paid by us. The civic body mails us the outstanding amount of the bill.”
Pathade, to whom the councilors will hand over their SIM cards, stated that, “If anyone requires the details of the mobile bills, ask them to file a Right to Information application.”
The councilors were supposed to hand over their SIM cards on Wednesday.
