MUMBAI: Members of the civic standing committee, cutting across party lines, on Wednesday forced the BMC administration to withdraw its proposal to increase the financial powers of the municipal commissioner and ward officers for sanctioning funds for public work.
They said no justification was given by the civic administration while preparing the proposal. Opposition party members alleged that it was the state government's attempt to curtail the power of corporators in the BMC, mainly those from Shiv Sena.
The administration wanted municipal commissioner's financial powers to be increased to Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 50 lakh and for ward officers three-fold-from up to Rs 5 lakh to up to Rs 15 lakh. This means that for works that require a lot of money, the civic administration does not have to take approval of the statutory committee-represented by politicians-instead, the civic chief or ward officer can sanction the amount.
Earlier, the state government had tried to cut the statutory committee's power in the Sena-ruled BMC. Following the desilting and road scams in the BMC, in 2017, the state government appointed a three-member committee, led by former bureaucrat Sharad Kale, to suggest ways and means to bring in more transparency in BMC's functioning. The committee, in its report, suggested "reducing the power of the statutory committee or general body in urban bodies for transparency, accountability and efficiency". The report also suggested that the statutory committee should only the power of sanctioning the budget, and does not have to clear each proposal individually.
The government, however, put the report in cold storage as the relation between the two alliance partners, Sena and BJP, improved.
A recent proposal by the civic administration also suggested increasing the financial fund sanctioning power of the mayor, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar of Sena, along with the civic commissioner and ward officers. The administration wants the standing committee's approval so that it can send the proposal to the state government to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, to include the changes.
But upset corporators met municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi just before the standing committee meeting on Wednesday and tabled their objections. Opposition leader in the BMC and Congress corporator Ravi Raja said, "The government wanted to control the BMC through such proposals. There was no discussion...suddenly civic administration put up this proposal. The administration is trying to undermine the power of the standing committee." SP corporator Rais Shaikh said, "The standing committee always clears proposals without any delay and there was no reason to bring such a proposal."
They said no justification was given by the civic administration while preparing the proposal. Opposition party members alleged that it was the state government's attempt to curtail the power of corporators in the BMC, mainly those from Shiv Sena.
The administration wanted municipal commissioner's financial powers to be increased to Rs 2.5 crore from Rs 50 lakh and for ward officers three-fold-from up to Rs 5 lakh to up to Rs 15 lakh. This means that for works that require a lot of money, the civic administration does not have to take approval of the statutory committee-represented by politicians-instead, the civic chief or ward officer can sanction the amount.
Earlier, the state government had tried to cut the statutory committee's power in the Sena-ruled BMC. Following the desilting and road scams in the BMC, in 2017, the state government appointed a three-member committee, led by former bureaucrat Sharad Kale, to suggest ways and means to bring in more transparency in BMC's functioning. The committee, in its report, suggested "reducing the power of the statutory committee or general body in urban bodies for transparency, accountability and efficiency". The report also suggested that the statutory committee should only the power of sanctioning the budget, and does not have to clear each proposal individually.
The government, however, put the report in cold storage as the relation between the two alliance partners, Sena and BJP, improved.
A recent proposal by the civic administration also suggested increasing the financial fund sanctioning power of the mayor, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar of Sena, along with the civic commissioner and ward officers. The administration wants the standing committee's approval so that it can send the proposal to the state government to amend the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, to include the changes.
But upset corporators met municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi just before the standing committee meeting on Wednesday and tabled their objections. Opposition leader in the BMC and Congress corporator Ravi Raja said, "The government wanted to control the BMC through such proposals. There was no discussion...suddenly civic administration put up this proposal. The administration is trying to undermine the power of the standing committee." SP corporator Rais Shaikh said, "The standing committee always clears proposals without any delay and there was no reason to bring such a proposal."
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