Urban News

The Deccan Chronicle  26.11.2010

Nov. 25: Contrary to the expectations of citizens who voted for them, Congress and Telugu Desam corporators are busy competing with each other in installing statues of state and national-level leaders rather than working to provide and improve the city’s civic amenities.

On Thursday morning, TD corporators, led by the floor leader, Mr Singireddy Srinivas Reddy, installed statues of Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar without the corporators’ consent of officials. They then performed milk abhishekam as a mark of respect to the leaders.

This was done as part of their counter strategy against the ruling Congress, which has already installed a statue of late Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy — yet to be unveiled — in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation office.

The TD corporators have also vowed to instal statues of Babu Jagjivan Ram, Jyotirao Phule, N.T. Rama Rao and other leaders in the premises of the GHMC main office at Tank Bund.

The installation of the statues on Thursday, however, kicked up a row with leaders and activists of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Employees’ Union saying that national leaders like Gandhi and Ambedkar were insulted as their statues were placed at the feet of YSR’s statue.

The Union general secretary, Mr B. Narsing Rao, demanded that the statues of national leaders be given a respectable place and that their pedestals should be constructed at a level higher than that of YSR’s.

On placing the statues at the feet of the YSR statue, Mr Singireddy Srinivas said, priority was to instal them first. “We will construct grand pedestals and shift the statues to other locations in the GHMC office,” said Mr Srinivas.

Hindustan Times  25.11.2010

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has instituted an inquiry into violations by the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC), which runs the Mahalaxmi race course on its 211-acre premises. The civic body has setup a tribunal, which will involve one official conducting an enquiry and then submitting a report to municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya. “Based on the report, we will decide whether or not to terminate their lease,” said Kshatriya.

RWITC has been under the civic body’s scanner as they have sub-leased a portion of the racecourse — the Gallops restaurant — to a third party for a period of 10 years without the BMC’s consent.

The RWITC’s lease with the civic body expires in 2013 and it has signed a contract with Gallops, which expires only in 2018.

The BMC has sent an eviction notice to the club for “sub-letting” parts of the plot, which is a violation of the agreement between the BMC and the RWITC.

Also, two premium restaurants inside the racecourse have extended their construction without seeking permission from the BMC.

“The tribunal will act as an independent body and will submit their report to the BMC within 60 days,” said a senior civic official. The official added that if the management of RWITC is not satisfied by the report, they could go in for an appeal.

Kshatriya added that the open space on which construction has been done within the racecourse premises should have been left open.

Even the demand made by Manoj Kotak, chairman of improvements committee, in a letter to Kshatriya, asking for termination of the plot’s lease will be looked into. Kotak in his letter had said that the BMC administration is deliberately delaying the process of terminating the lease with the RWITC.

“All these allegations will also be looked at in the report,” said Kshatriya.