The Indian Express                      22.03.2013

Civic budget passed after 40 hours of talk

After over 40 hours of speeches by 107 corporators, Mayor Sunil Prabhu passed part of the civic budget Thursday morning.

Some of the budget session speeches continued for almost four hours.

While Shiv Sena corporator Yamini Jadhav spoke for 3 hours and 40 minutes, Prakash Darekar, brother of MLA Pravin Darekar, held forth for a good three hours.

The speeches during a civic general body meeting put most corporators to sleep, while others were seen taking restroom breaks or stepping out to attend phone calls.

"I will keep my speech short. Hour-long speeches do not mean much," said Ram Barot of BJP, who took only 15 minutes.

Shiv Sena corporator Shubha Raul said, "Corporators speak on hundreds of issues, sometimes complain for no reason. For most, this is the only occasion to speak. What happens rest of the year?"

While Jadhav, whose speech was the longest, raised the issue of lack of quality education in civic schools, Darekar dwelt on the pathetic condition of city roads.

Once the BMC commissioner drafts budget and places it for approval, corporators get to discuss it. While the budget discussions started Monday this week, the final session lasted over 18 hours until Thursday morning.

Despite stiff opposition by corporators, the civic administration has decided to replace octroi with local body tax (LBT) from October.

"We will have to implement LBT as per state government directions. The administration will, however, impart training to corporators to understand the new tax system," said Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte.

He announced every civic hospital and select clinics in the city would soon have ELISA testing facility, essential to detect HIV.

Setting up of 13 new clinics and a stray dog study group were also announced and the 'poor box' concept, under which each hospital will have to set aside an amount to purchase medicines for economically weak patients, was discussed.