Proxies participate in official study tour

The husbands of women municipal corporators of the Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar (MCK) had a field day touring Nagpur, in Maharashtra, as ‘proxies’ in place of their wives at the cost of State exchequer, to study the functioning of 24x7 drinking water supply scheme in the Nagpur city.

Karimnagar legislator G. Kamalakar, who had been promising 24x7 drinking water supply to the people of Karimnagar town since 2009 onwards, had organised a study tour of Nagpur city to inspect the functioning of 24x7 water supply, sewerage treatment plant and greenery works and implement the same in Karimnagar town.

Accordingly, the MCK had organised a study tour of the municipal corporators from Thursday to Saturday. Around 20 officially elected male corporators and another 11 proxies have proceeded to Nagpur from Karimnagar town on Thursday night.

They would be touring the Nagpur city on Friday and Saturday and return on Sunday.

Incidentally, Karimnagar legislator G. Kamalakar, Mayor S. Ravinder Singh, deputy mayor G. Ramesh, Commissioner K. Shashanka and other municipal officials and office sub-ordinates were also touring Nagpur along with the team.

The Constitution had provided 50 % reservation to women in the local bodies. Against the 50 municipal corporators, there are 25 women municipal corporators in Karimnagar town. Ironically, barring the participation in official municipal general body meetings, the women corporators are otherwise confined to their homes and their husbands act as proxies and attend all other meetings of the municipality and the political meetings.

Expressing concern over the misuse of public money, Lok Satta Udyama Samstha Karimnagar district president N. Srinivas said that the women municipal corporators should participate in the official study tours. Ironically, they were confined to their houses and their husbands were participating in the official tours, which is unconstitutional and violation of law, he stated.

Finding fault with the Municipal officials for allowing the ‘proxies’ to participate in the study tour, he demanded the government recover the tour expenses from the proxies or the women corporators for violating the norms.

He also said that he would collect the tour expenses bill through Right to Information Act.

When contacted, Mayor S. Ravinder Singh said that they had organised the study tour for the benefit of corporators for the implementation of 24x7 water supply in Karimnagar town. However, he refused to divulge the details of proxies participating in the study tour.