5k sign plea to back Mundhe as netas unite against him

Nagpur: A day after Congress MLA and Maharashtra assembly speaker Nana Patole demanded transfer of Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, residents of Orange City have launched an online petition — People’s Confidence Motion — to show their support to the civic chief.
Nearly 5,000 residents have signed the petition, launched on Thursday, on social media platforms appealing to other Nagpurians to sign it to support Mundhe.
Since Mundhe joined the NMC as municipal commissioner in January this year, like in his past postings, the civic chief has not had a good rapport with elected representatives in the civic body.
All-party corporators had united against Mundhe after a police complaint was filed against Congress corporator Nitin Sathawane at Lakadganj police station for obstructing civic body’s containment drive and demanded that the complaint be withdrawn.
Congress MLA Vikas Thakre had met divisional commissioner Sanjeev Kumar urging him to order Mundhe to withdraw the police complaint filed against Sathawane. But in vain.
Later, Congress corporators and leaders met Patole and urged him to raise the issue with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for transferring Mundhe from Nagpur. Patole met the CM and apprised him how Mundhe is “ignoring” elected representatives while taking policy decisions. TOI also contacted Patole but he parried this question.
Following all these developments, an online campaign to support Mundhe was launched. Nearly 5,000 people have signed the petition to show support for Mundhe. In a letter to the chief minister, an anonymous online petitioner urged him not to shift Mundhe as citizens in Nagpur have complete confidence in the municipal commissioner.
“Mundhe has proved his mettle amid the deadly pandemic by handling the situation very efficiently with appropriate use of iron fist and feather touch as per situation. Thanks to his strict, prompt, result-oriented and focused method of good governance; Nagpur city has phenomenally controlled the community spread of Covid-19, with recovery rate of 80%,” the letter to the CM stated.
Appreciating Mundhe’s efforts, the petitioner also shared some of the steps taken by NMC under his leadership like mass quarantine facilities created at very affordable cost and without corruption, shelter homes for migrant labourers and beggars, skill development activities for beggars, strict implementation of lockdown in various stages, door-to-door survey for identification of patients, tracing, isolation, testing, treatment and effective public awareness programmes.
“As a result of these initiatives, Nagpur could save many lives. But unfortunately, some politicians with vested interest are introducing a no-confidence motion against an honest and hardworking officer like Tukaram Mundhe. It is a pity that they are demanding his transfer from city at this crucial time, when the city needs him. This kind of conspiracy against an honest IAS officer is not only shameful, but also is a blot on the image of Nagpur city,” the letter stated.