Navi Mumbai: Standing committee chairman skips local leaders names during general body meeting; opposition fumes

Pritam Mhatre, leader of the opposition at Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) strongly protested against the civic body for not naming local MLA and Guardian minister during the special general body meeting held on May 5 to discuss the budget at Krantiveer Vasudev Balwant Phadke Natyagruha in Panvel.

The standing committee chairman mentioned the names of the Prime Minister and Home minister but skipped local leaders like Raigad District Guardian Minister Adititai Tatkare, MP Appasaheb Barne, and Konkan teacher MLA Balaram Patil. This infuriated Mhatre who alleged ignoring the opposition. The Bharatiya Janata Party is ruling the PMC.

Mhatre got support from other opposition corporators and they strongly protested. When asked about this, the chairman said that it was his personal opinion. This led to a commotion in the House. “Standing Committee chairman is a constitutional post and the person holding this post does not belong to any single party but belongs to the entire corporation,” said Mhatre.

In addition, Mhatre also raised the question of the timing of giving a budget copy to corporators. As per the rules, the budget is presented first to the Standing Committee and then distributed among members. Later, the budget is presented to the General Body in the House. “This budget copy is given to all the corporators before the general meeting so that they can study it and express their views. However, PMC did not follow the protocol and shared the budget copy among the remaining corporators on the morning of the day of the meeting on May 5. How can one study and discuss in the House,” alleged Mhatre.