When civic officer knows nothing about proposals to be discussed....

It is binding on the additional municipal commissioner to study all the proposals before being taken up for discussion in the BMC standing committee. One cannot predict which question should be raised by the committee members. Forgetting this, additional municipal commissioner Pallavi Darade bluntly reported to the committee chairman on Wednesday telling him that questions raised on improvements of Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg in N Ward will be replied in the next meeting. This has raised a question whether the powerful committee is being run by the public representatives or the administrative officers.

On Wednesday, additional proposals regarding improvements on the private road in Garodia Nagar-Ghatkopar and LBS Road were put up in the standing committee meeting. When the committee chairman announced these proposals for discussion, additional municipal commissioner Pallavi Darade informed him that she will reply on these proposals in the next meeting as it was not being studied. 

Taking objection on this, BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde said that this was an attempt to snatch the right of corporators to speak in the committee. MNS corporator Dilip Lande pointed out that the contractor has stopped work on these roads due to lack of money. Rais Shaikh of Samajwadi Party asked whether the committee is being run by its chairman or the administration. BJP’s Manoj Kotak stressed that it was their right to ask for a reply on the proposal once it proposed in the committee meeting. Leader of opposition Ravi Raja also said that such kind of reply is given for the first time in the history. Leader of the House, Yashwant Jadhav, warned the administration not to dare again to do such things in future.

Meanwhile, Pallavi Darade suggested that the chairman can put these proposals on hold until next meeting. Still, the standing committee passed these proposals worth Rs 90 crore.