Sena wants stalls before civic polls
Shiv Sena, the ruling party in the civic body, has arm-twisted the administration into allotting stalls for its Shiv Vada Pav scheme in civic markets.
Shiv Sena, the ruling party in the civic body, has arm-twisted the administration into allotting stalls for its Shiv Vada Pav scheme in civic markets.
The Sena had started this scheme in a bid to woo the unemployed Maharashtrian youth and in the run-up to the civic polls, to be held next year, they are trying to propel it further.
The civic body had earlier showed reluctance in allotting land for the stalls, due to lack of space, but are now being forced to look at civic body-run markets in the city, due to pressure by the Shiv Sena. The BMC has decided to seek legal opinion for the same.
The scheme, announced by the Shiv Sena in May 2008 in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), is yet to be implemented. Under the scheme, 125 stalls will be built in the city and suburbs. Earlier, the idea was to allot stalls in civic premises, like ward offices, hospitals and auditoriums. This could not be done, however, as there was no rule in the civic law that permitted it.
On Monday, Mayor Shraddha Jadhav had called a meeting in the BMC head office, to come up with a solution for the implementation of the scheme. “We have planned to execute the scheme before the upcoming civic poll. Stalls will be allotted in the civic owned markets, phase wise. In the first phase, 60 stalls will be allotted,” said Rahul Shewale, chairman of the civic standing committee.
Yogesh Mahangade, assistant municipal commissioner (planning) said, “As of now, it has been planned to allot stalls in BMC markets but we will seek legal opinion from civic law department before executing the policy.”