Nagpur: As the notorious Nagpur summer making life of citizens miserable, water crisis in many parts of the city adding more woes. And this is April. What is stored in the month of May could well be imagined. The water on Friday created heat in General Body Meeting of Nagpur Municipal Corporation with Opposition as well as Ruling members mounting a scathing attack on administration for failure to tackle water crisis. Such was the intensity of protest that the Mayor Nanda Jichkar, who was chairing the meeting, announced convening of a Special Meeting in the first week of next month for the sole purpose of dealing with the water crisis. The Ruling Party Leader Sandeep Joshi directed the Water Works Department authorities to attend the Special Meeting with all measures in place.
Today’s General Body Meeting got off to a start as usual one hour late. At the beginning of Question Hour, the Opposition Leader Tanaji Vanve and Congress Corporator Ramesh Punekar raised the issue irregular water supply in many parts of the city. A number of all-party members including Satish Holay, Prakash Bhoyar, Pravin Bhisikar, Divya Dhurde, Shraddha Pathak, Abhay Gotekar, Nitin Sathawane, Rupa Rai, Ujjwala Bankar, Dinesh Yadav, Asha Uike, Mamata Sahare, Purshottam Hazare, Bhavna Lonare, Praful Gudadhe Patil, Jitendra Ghodeswar, Sheshrao Gotmare, and Abha Pande apprised the House regarding water scarcity and contaminated water supply in their respective Prabhags. The contaminated water supply posed outbreak of serious diseases such as jaundice, gastro etc. North Nagpur, East Nagpur, South Nagpur, West Nagpur, Central Nagpur and South West Nagpur are facing water problems. The citizens are not getting continuous flow of water with full pressure during summer, they said.
Bahujan Samaj Party Corporator Mohd Jamal said that the holy Ramzan month is starting from May 17. Regular water supply must be ensured in view of Roza. Irregular water supply could spark discontent among community members.
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At the end, the Ruling Party Leader Sandeep Joshi slammed the “mute spectator” Chief of Water Works Department Sanjay Gaekwad and asked him to come out with satisfactory reply to the questions of Corporators. The Corporators were also asked to submit their complaints to the Executive Engineer of Water Works Department and Water Works Committee Chairman Pintu Zalke within three days. Gaekwad was directed to reply to the complaints satisfactorily within seven days. Joshi also suggested the Mayor to convene Special Meeting in the first week of next month only on water crisis. The Mayor Nanda Jichkar agreed to the suggestion and announced holding of Special Meeting and directed the Water Works Department authorities to attend the special meeting without fail and with full readiness to tackle the water crisis.
Sports policy:
The NMC is in possession of many a reserved playgrounds. But due to lack of control, these playgrounds are being misused for other purposes or encroached upon by various elements. The Congress Corporator Kishore Jichkar has been raising the issues actively time and again. In today’s GBM, the Mayor directed the concerned authorities to formulate sports policy at the earliest and also start sporting activities at the playgrounds. The Ruling Party Leader Sandeep Joshi informed the House that the initiative to formulate sports policy had started six years back. The sports policy will now be tabled in the next GBM for approval.
Demolition of Tekdi Flyover:
The Friday’s General Body Meeting was scheduled to discuss proposal of demolition of Tekdi Flyover but the proposal was postponed to the next GBM as the ‘alert’ Opposition Corporators foiled the the proposal. The ruling party and administration were trying to get the proposal approved without detailed discussion on the basis of brute majority.
The GBM approved promotion of Sub-Divisional Engineer Pradeep Rajgire to the vacant post of Executive Engineer (Civil) on the suggestion of Opposition Leader Tanaji Vanve. The proposal to reinstate 17 employees in the services of the local body also figured in the meeting. A favourable decision was arrived at after a thorough discussion. Of the 17 employees, four happened to be relatives of BJP MLA Krishna Khopde.
Five of the 17 dismissed employees of Nagpur Municipal Corporation had tried to immolate themselves in front of CM Devendra Fadnavis’ official residence Ramgiri in Civil Lines recently. The five employees are demanding their reinstatement in the civic body for the last 16 years. NMC general body had decided to reinstate 17 persons when Fadnavis was Mayor in 1997. In a writ petition filed by one of 16, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, on July 8, 2015, had directed the state’s urban development department (UDD) to decide on their case within three months. Despite 28 months having passed, UDD under the CM is yet to decide on their case according to petitioner Subhash Ghate, who is also a BJP leader.
