Mira Bhayandar: Ahead of polls, MBMC chief gives major jolt to BJP, proposals in Budget worth Rs. 618 Crore sent to state for scrapping

After being restrained by the State Election Commission (SEC) from utilizing discretionary funds, the BJP-led Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) received another major jolt after civic chief- Dilip Dhole dropped a bombshell by seeking the cancellation of proposals worth more than Rs.618 crore which was passed in the budget for the current fiscal.

This is at a time when the elections to the civic body are expected to be held later this year. The municipal commissioner sent the resolution to the state government’s urban development department (UDD) for scrapping on 6, June. Dhole has also sought UDD’s intervention to ensure that rules mandating allotment of not more than two percent of the civic body’s total revenue is allotted to municipal corporators for local area development.

However, an official reply is still awaited from the UDD. As many as 114 developmental works worth more than Rs.618 crore had been approved in the budget meeting held in March, 2002 by the BJP on the virtue of their majority in the general body house. However, the opposition members had not opposed the resolution, which is indicative of their approval.

While Dhole remained unavailable for comments, Mayor- Jyotsna Hasnale said that such a decision was bound to hamper the overall development of the twin city. “The works are not limited to areas covered by the ruling party but the entire region. It’s a customary practice to sanction developmental projects in the budget which is a vision document for any city,” said, BJP corporator- Dhruvekishore Patil.

The standing committee had inflated the budget by a whopping Rs 410 crore and tabled it before the general body where the figures were further escalated by Rs 25 crore to reach an all-time high of Rs.2, 252.65 crores. The yawning gap between the estimated and actual income levels spoke volumes about the desperate attempt of pushing unrealistic figures, which apparently prompted the civic administration to take the step.