BJP to protest govt move to take back local body funds

Nagpur: The cash-strapped state government has asked all local bodies, including zilla parishads (ZPs), municipal councils and municipal corporations, to return the funds not spent in 2019-20. This has raised the hackles of the BJP, which fears that the move will adversely affect development works. The party has decided to stage a symbolic agitation on June 10 against the decision.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, state general secretary Chandrashekhar Bawankule demanded that the government resolution (GR) in this regard should be immediately withdrawn in the next cabinet. “When I was the guardian minister for five years, the district got double its share of district planning committee (DPC) funds. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, instead of maintaining the tempo, reduced Nagpur district’s allocation below many other districts to settle scores with the BJP. Now it is taking away whatever meagre amount it has sanctioned. The district will go back ten years in time if this disastrous decision is implemented,” he said.
Bawankule, district BJP president Arvind Gajbhiye, MLAs Sameer Meghe and Tekchand Sawarkar and MLC Girish Vyas have calculated that the 21 municipal councils of the district will lose Rs25.47 crore if their unspent money is taken back.
The ex-minister said that BJP activists would stage agitations all across the district. “We will seek alms from the common man to ‘help this beggar government’. The money collected would be deposited with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of municipal councils and zilla parishads (ZP). As this government is taking away money from poor people to run the show, it perhaps needs our token collection,” he added.
Bawankule slammed energy minister Nitin Raut for demanding Rs10,000 crore from the central government for MSEDCL. “The discom is a state government company. State government should therefore pay this amount. Raut should seek this amount from deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance portfolio. People’s earnings have reduced or have become nil due to the lockdown. They should be provided power free of cost,” he said. Former Congress minister Anees Ahmed has also demanded free electricity up to 300 units.
The BJP general secretary flayed municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe for not implementing the directives of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) house. He also charged Mundhe with ignoring the corporators.
MLC Vyas urged home minister Anil Deshmukh to set up a quarantine centre for Central Jail inmates. “There are over 100 Covid-19 positive cases in the jail. It is very crowded and a quarantine centre is a must. These inmates should not be freed as they can spread the disease outside,” he said.