Senior corporators get more funds than rest

Nagpur: When corporators of different political parties were getting a meagre Rs2 lakh for development of their ward, senior BJP corporators close to Union minister Nitin Gadkari and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis received over Rs10 crore for development.
A corporator has started getting around Rs20 lakh annually for ward development work ever since the BJP took over the reins of the civic body in 2017. However, senior corporators like ruling party leader Sandip Jadhav, former mayor and MLC Pravin Datke, former deputy mayor Dayashankar Tiwari, former standing committee chairman Pradip Pohane and first-time corporator Virendra Kukreja received Rs10 crore each every year for their ward.
From 2017-18 to 2019-20, the standing committee allocated Rs767.38 crore towards development works. These allocations were part of NMC’s budget.
Of the Rs767.38 crore allocated by the standing committee chairmen in last three financial years, BJP corporators got Rs602.6 crore, while 29 Congress corporators were allotted Rs122.69 crore. Ten Bahujan Samaj Party corporators, mostly from North Nagpur, received Rs33.62 crore for development works. Independent corporator Abha Pande, who is famous for her upright work, could get only Rs3.79 crore for development works, while two Shiv Sena and one NCP corporator got Rs2.39 crore and Rs2.29 crore respectively in three years.
Present city mayor Sandip Joshi had carried out development work worth Rs2.9 crore in his constituency in the last three financial years.
A two-time corporator and a close aide of east Nagpur MLA Krishna Khopde, former standing committee chairman Pradip Pohane got the most (Rs41.04 crore) from the standing panel. City BJP President Pravin Datke too got Rs28.15 crore sanctioned for various works.
Senior Congress corporators Praful Gudadhe and the leader of opposition too got the lion’s share of Rs10.77 crore and Rs8.07 crore respectively for development works sanctioned by the standing committee in the last three years.
BJP city president, senior corporator and MLC Pravin Datke said funds are allocated on the basis of priority of development work. He admitted that seniority of corporators plays a major role in getting funds sanctioned. The corporators who are sensitive and committed to carry out development works in their areas have faced no problems in getting funds sanctioned, he explained.
Datke admitted that senior corporators should help newly-elected representatives to get funds for development works in their prabhag. The BJP does it, he said.
Corporators representing the outskirts of the city stressed the need for NMC’s proactive approach to improve basic civic amenities. Congress corporator Darshani Dhawad has been demanding funds to remove the backlog of development works in areas like Dabha.
GROUND REALITY
Party—2017-18—2018-19—2019-20—Total
BJP—35.54—178.99—288.07—602.6
Cong—43.06—34.67—44.96—122.69
BSP—11.96—12.21—9.45—33.62
SS—0.73—0.8—0.86—2.39
NCP—0.32—0.59—1.38—2.29
IND—0.74—1.25—1.8—3.79
Total—192.35—228.51—346.52—767.38
(Figures in Rs/Cr)