The mayor's letter came after the administrator scrapped two tenders – for zoo enclosures and a laundry project – after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged corruption. Former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar has expressed her displeasure over changes allegedly made by the municipal commissioner and BMC administrator IS Chahal in the projects that were approved by the statutory bodies, including the 227-member strong elected representative general body and the standing committee.
In a letter sent to Chahal on Monday, Pednekar said, “I have learned that certain civic departments have asked for modifications/revision in the projects/proposals approved by the committees in the past. I request to you not to cancel, or modify any approved proposals until the next corporation (of elected members) is constituted.”
The mayor’s letter came after the administrator scrapped two tenders – for zoo enclosures and a laundry project – after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged corruption.
All committees, namely the standing committee, improvement committee and law committee, which had corporators as their members, ceased to exist on March 7 as the term of the municipal body drew to a close.
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Since March 8 this year, the proposals by the various civic departments, and ward offices are directly being addressed and sent to the administrator for final approval. Before the term of the BMC ended on March 7, proposals were approved by corporators in various statutory committees. On an average, the committees usually got around 300 proposals each month.
BMC had earlier said that it will upload the approved proposals on its website and mobile application. The plan has now been abandoned, said an official.
BJP legislator Yogesh Sagar, in a letter dated March 29 to the commissioner, had asked to disclose all the financial proposals of the civic body to the public to prevent corruption and bring transparency. Sagar asked for the approved proposals to be uploaded on the BMC’s website for public scrutiny.
On May 4, in a setback to the Maharashtra government, the Supreme Court asked the State Election Commission (SEC) to notify the poll schedule for local bodies within two weeks based on the previous delimitation exercise.
Last week, on May 20, the Bombay High Court sought the Maharashtra government’s reply on the decision of the SEC on the final delimitation of wards for civic body elections. The court sought to know whether the state government will go ahead with the SEC’s decision or if it will invite fresh objections to the delimitation. As per sources, the civic elections are likely to be held in September-October this year.
Till the corporation is formed and holds its first meeting, the administrator will run the civic body.
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