Nagpur: Factional feud within the city Congress came to fore on Thursday when the two groups — one led by former mayor Vikas Thakre and the other by leader of opposition in NMC Tanaji Wanve — reached the NMC headquarters to raise civic complaints.
Thakre stormed the office of municipal commissioner Virendra Singh over poor water supply, while Wanve led the party workers to meet deputy mayor Deepraj Pardikar.
Shouting slogans, the party demanded NMC to sort out irregular and contaminated water supply issues, complete assessment of property tax, installation of LED lights, replacement of old and defective wires as well as poles with new ones, speedy completion of cement roads etc.
Thakre said, “There are a few companies and organizations who are eating up the public’s wealth thereby indulging in corrupt practices, which is why there should be an enquiry into their affairs. The citizens need to be saved from this menace.”
He said that NMC has allotted huge amounts of money to underserving companies for various projects. “OCW, which supplies water to the entire city, had promised uninterrupted supply and a water tanker-free city. None of these is being taken care of and instead, we witness water shortage and deployment of an increased number of tankers,” Thakre said.
“Kanak Resources, the company that lifts door-to-door garbage in the city also consumes loads of money from citizens’ pockets. They many times weigh sand instead of garbage,” he said.
“Cybertech Company too loots taxpayers in the name of working for property survey. Kanak and Cybertech have been wrongly allotted Rs 2,525 crore and Rs 55 crore respectively,” he said. Thakre appealed to the NMC to take charge of these jobs and bring everything under control.
The committee has submitted a memorandum of their demands to Singh and he assured to look into them. “The commissioner said that he is new in the office and has asked for a month to understand the scenario and put forth solutions. Therefore, we have decided to return after a month,” said Thakre.
The Wanve-led 15-corporator delegation met Pardikar and raised the water crisis across the city. No senior corporators were seen in his camp, while Thakre’s demonstration was joined by senior corporators Sandip Sahare, Manoj Sangole and Vishal Muttemwar.
The party said it will take to streets if its demands are not fulfilled soon.