Corporators play truant, give key meetings a miss

Thought it was only schoolchildren who liked to play truant? Think again.

Thought it was only schoolchildren who liked to play truant? Think again.

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The representatives you trusted to think about your welfare do not seem to be interested in attending important proceedings of the civic administration’s general body meetings.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) attendance record shows that 29 corporators, around 12% of the total strength of the general body, have attended less than 50% meetings. The total strength of the civic general body is 227.

All policy decisions cleared by various committees of the BMC are put up for discussion at the general body meetings. Records show that from April 2009 to March 2010, the BMC conducted 59 general body meetings.

Of the worst performers, 17 are from the Congress (one being independent and supported by the party), two are from the Republican Party of India (RPI), five from the Shiv Sena, three from the Samajwadi Party, one from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), and two from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The lowest attendance recorded was by Shiv Sena’s Vijay Vashirde from Bhuleshwar.

Vashirde attended only one meeting as he had applied for leave for almost the entire year.

Congress corporator Rajendra Mahulkar from Mahul attended six meetings and was on leave from March to May 2009 and August 2009 to April 2010. Similarly, Gulshan Chauhan, Congress corporator from Khara Talao, was present only in nine meetings.

Ramesh Singh Thakur, Congress corporator-turned-MLA from Kandivli, and Ajit Pandit, a Sena corporator, attended 10 meetings each.

However, 54 corporators attended 90% of the meetings, with NCP corporator Mangesh Bansode being the most consistent one.

This abysmal record is despite the civic body paying corporators Rs 150 each to attend the general body meeting.

“Though attendance of corporators may not be up to the mark, their performance is good,” said deputy Opposition leader, Vinod Shekhar.

“But we need to ensure that their attendance improves. We will discuss the issue with our senior party leaders and see that directives are issued to corporators.”

Prakash Joshi, a political activist from Dadar, said: “With the civic elections approaching this careless attitude of the corporators will do them no good.”