The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee, on Wednesday, cleared seven contentious proposals worth Rs 12 crore that came from Standing Committee Chairman Yashwant Jadhav. The proposal of acquiring steel benches, mobile vans for the sale of fruits and vegetables, installation of high mast lights and CCTV cameras for beat number 209 of E ward, which is Jadhav's constituency, was floated on Wednesday.
Earlier, this month, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a complaint with the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) and alleged malpractice of the corporator’s fund. However, on Wednesday, BJP members chose to maintain a neutral stand during the meeting. Bhalchandra Shirsat, senior BJP corporator and spokesperson for the party in BMC, claimed that corporators of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) had requested them not to oppose the proposals before the meeting.
Shirsat also stated that the quantity and the rates of the products to be purchased are not clearly specified in the agenda. “Opposing the proposals would have been futile, because Shiv Sena has the majority in the committee and they would easily get the proposal cleared,” Shirsat told the Free Press Journal.
“However, we maintained a neutral stand, as the proposal came for carrying out development work in the ward of the chairman,” Shirsat added. Ravi Raja, senior Congress corporator and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the BMC, stated that he only told the BJP corporators to consider the developmental aspects of the proposal.
“BJP could have opposed the proposal if they wanted to. It's their stand anyway,” Raja said. “Also, if they find discrepancies in the agenda, then they should have raised questions on the issue. Rather they chose to be silent.”
