At the meeting, Pednekar declared the names of new members nominated from all parties for four statutory committees, including the Standing Committee. (File)After receiving complaints from corporators about not being able to hear the proceedings of the General Body meeting over Zoom app on Monday, Mayor Kishori Pednekar asked Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to organise physical meetings.
At the meeting, Pednekar declared the names of new members nominated from all parties for four statutory committees, including the Standing Committee. The elections for the posts of chairman of the four committees will be held on October 5 and 6.
“I have written to the BMC commissioner to further communicate with state government to allow at least physical meetings for the elections,” Pednekar said. After the meeting started, many corporators said they could not log in and many who managed to log in were not able to hear others.
NCP leader Rakhi Jadhav raised the issue of having physical meetings, citing Parliament and Assembly meetings that were held recently with proper safety measures.
“In the last meeting there was a problem with the sound system and we could not hear anyone’s speech. Corporators have complained about this but nothing has been done to address it,” said Jadhav. She also got support from Shiv Sena leader of the House Vishakha Raut, who said the online system was not efficient and previously there have been two meetings but out of 227 corporators only 134 and 198 could connect. “Some could not hear the voices and some failed to share their opinions. If planned well then elections for committees can be held in civic houses as it has enough space and general body meetings can be taken at Shanmukhanand Hall, which has the capacity of 2,000 people,” said Raut. BJP leader Prabhakar Shinde echoed the same view.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena has nominated former mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar as new member of the Standing Committee. In BJP, senior leaders Bhalchandra Shirsat and Ujwala Modak have been appointed as new members. Akhil Bhartiya Sena corporator Geeta Gawali who had joined hands with the BJP has not been retained. In the Education Committee, Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray’s close aide Rahul Kanal has been given a second chance as a member.
According to officials from the Municipal Secretary department, terms of 13 members each on the Standing Committee and Improvement Committee ended in March. While 11 members from the Education Committee and eight from BEST Committee had also resigned from their posts after their term got over.
Officials from the BMC said that elections for Standing Committee and Improvement Committee will be held on October 5 and the Education and BEST committees on October 6. Opposition leader Ravi Raja had said that they will contest the elections for the post of chairman of these committees. “We are going to contest elections for the post of the chairman for all four statutory committees,” raja said.
Earlier, the Congress was hoping for an alliance in BMC with the Sena on the lines of their coalition in state government.
Earlier, the state government had instructed urban local bodies to hold meetings and elections online amid Covid-19 pandemic.
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