Indore: Taking everybody present at Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) council meeting on Thursday by shock, Mayor-in-Council (MiC) member Dilip Sharma on Thursday claimed that the IMC officials are corrupt and attacked his fellows in the MiC for supporting “the corrupts”.
A stormy IMC council meeting was on card owing to Congress corporators announcement on Wednesday that they would leave no opportunity to corner the ruling BJP. But they failed to achieve the goal in absence of any substantial issue even as MiC Sharma stole the show.
Sharma attacked IMC officers stating that they have been releasing advertisements without taking required permissions and sought to know how many advertisements had been released so far. MiC member Santosh Gour got up to reply only to be pulled by Sharma. Sharma said that advertisement department is under him and he no clue on advertisements so how come Gour had information about it.
“Do not read from the paper given by IMC officers to you,” he suggested Gour. He stated that advertisement policy should first come to him and then be cleared by IMC council after approval from MiC. But the IMC officials are not following the set procedure and unfortunately Mayor is also not acting against them.
He also alleged that the IMC officials are corrupt and are hand in glove with contractors. To substantiate his claim, Sharma stated that he once came across an advertisement for tenders for project. “The conditions of the tenders were shocking. One condition stated that whosever files tender should remain informed that IMC may give contract to the contractor of other project if his price was found better than of others participated in tender process,”
he said adding that he brought this to knowledge of municipal commissioner Asheesh Singh who also termed the condition wrong. He then trained his guns towards building permission department stating that they are not even taking fees for clearance of maps. When I brought one incident into the knowledge of building permission officials they paid fee from their pockets to evade action.
He claimed that corruption of crore of rupees is going on in the building permission department of which Sudhir Dedge is in charge. Dedge refuted the charges only to see Sharma throwing up a challenge of getting his claims investigated by a committee comprising him, Dedge and Speaker Ajay Singh Naruka.
“If the inquiry committee found my allegations wrong, I will resign,” he said. After the sentence, the Speaker asked Sharma to sit down but Congress erupted. They shouted “shame, shame” and accused Naruka also of sheltering corrupt officials by making Sharma to sit down without completing what he wanted to reveal. The Speaker reacted sharply to the allegation leveled on him even as the Congress corporators went into the well.
Cong protests as protocol issue raised
The breach of protocol during inauguration of newly built Jawahar Marg bridge was raised by the Speaker. Naurka stated that there is protocol for minister, mayor, MLA and speaker which was not followed during inauguration of the bridge. At the inauguration function, former MLA Ashwin Joshi had sat on chair set for the Mayor and other Congress leaders occupied other chairs on the inauguration stage.
As the issue was raised by the Speaker, Congress corporators reached in the well stating that the issue should have not been raised in council meeting. The House congratulated officers involved in speedy construction of the bridge but the Speaker stated that the officer should also ensure that administrative complex of IMC is completed fast. “It has been delayed for long,“ he added.
Silawat urges IMC to take up cleaning work at govt hospitals
Health minister Tulsi Silawat requested IMC to take up responsibility of cleaning at government hospitals. “We are doing cleaning at hospitals but if the IMC will also extend help, the task will become easy and the joint effort will help in checking many infectious diseases,” he added. Apart from Silawat, who is also MLA of Sanwer, Indore-3 constituency MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, Indore-1 constituency MLA Sanjay Shukla and Depalpur MLA Vishal Patel also attended the meeting.
Indore-2 corporators attend meeting
Corporators from wards under Indore-2 assembly constituency attended the IMC council meeting on Thursday. It is to be noted that they are facing a case in divisional commissioner’s court following a complaint by former corporator Chintu Choukse. Choukse had claimed that they had been skipped IMC meetings and sought their disqualification. A BJP corporator stated that the case was politically motivated and that municipal commissioner gave attendance of the corporators to divisional commissioner without taking permission from the Speaker. The Speaker termed the municipal commissioner’s move wrong and stated that a certified copy of attendance would be sent to the divisional commissioner.
Other highlights of meetings
Congress corporator Rubina Khan raised the issue of increasing honorarium from existing Rs 6000 to Rs 25000 per month. Tulsi said that he would convey the request to the CM. Speaker did not allow Dilip Surage claiming to be representative of higher education minister Jitu Patwari to sit in the House until a letter confirming the same reaches to his office from the minister himself.
Over the issue, Congress corporators protested and House was adjourned for five minutes. BJP corporator Asha Soni sought to know when street lights would be installed in her ward. To this, Leader of Opposition Fozia Sheikh Alim alleged that electricity department incharge Ashwin Shukla had installed street lights in his ward, Mayor and some select corporators ward only.
Mayor, corporators lodge complaint against Sharma
Mayor, IMC speaker, three MiC members and 17 BJP corporators lodged a complaint with BJP city chief Gopi Nema and organizational secretary for allegedly leveling false allegations against IMC officers and attacking MiC members during IMC council meeting. Gopi Nema said that the complaint has been forwarded to senior leaders for action. “Action will be taken after going through each aspect of the case,” he added.
Earlier, the Mayor talking to media persons had stated that there are some issues on which Sharma is unhappy. She had stated that she would convey the issues to the party and also the incident took place on Thursday during council meeting. Municipal commissioner Asheesh Singh rejected Dilip Sharma’s claims of corruption by officials are baseless. The corporators were watching planned screening of Uri while they signed the document.
