The Times of India  15.12.2010

NAGPUR: In a major blow to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which has time and again caught flak from citizens over crumbling civic administration, CM Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday admitted that all is not well with the Shiv Sena-BJP ruled corporation.

Pointing out that Mumbai's civic governance has declined over the years, Chavan said, "The BMC lacks transparency and accountability. This is a matter of great concern. I have asked for a detailed report on the BMC's financial transactions. If civic officials do not mend their ways, we will not hesitate to take stern action."

Chavan, however, turned down the Congress-NCP MLAs' demand for a high-level judicial probe or a CBI inquiry into the civic administration.

The chief minister said the BMC was being run in an ad-hoc manner. "Contractors are calling the shots. The BMC has not maintained an exhaustive balance sheet for the last three years. I have directed the BMC to table the balance sheets for 2007-08 and 2008-09 in next two months," he said. Civic officials have also been asked to submit the balance sheet for 2009-10 by July-end.

"There are irregularities in almost every sphere of the BMC-dumping grounds, water supply, open ground policy, reservation of plots, mid-day meal scheme for school children. The BMC's behavior is penny wise and pound foolish," he added.

Chavan, replying to a marathon debate in the legislative assembly on the worsening civic administration, agreed with several Congress-NCP MLAs that there were discrepancies in the functioning of the BMC. Chavan said, "Tenders are okayed in a dubious manner. Financial transactions lack transparency."

The chief minister further said that many civic projects suffer due to "fiscal indiscipline and mismanagement". "All such cases will have to be closely scrutinized and the BMC will have to be put back in order," he added. Chavan's statement in the House is seen as a political onslaught on the saffron rule in the Mumbai city hall, especially in the view of 2012 civic polls.

The civic polls will prove to be a litmus test for Chavan's litmus test in state politics and by targeting the cash rich BMC, the chief minister has, in a manner of speaking, cleared the decks for the crucial polls, say political observers.

Interestingly, the Sena-BJP MLAs remained silent even as Chavan condemned the BMC. Several saffron legislators, Vinod Goshalkar, Yogesh Sagar, Gopal Shetty and Tara Singh to name a few, began there political innings as city corporataors. However Sena leader Subhash Desai , who participated in the speech on Monday, said Chavan was playing a "political game" by targeting the BMC. Desai accused the government of creating hurdles in the functioning of the BMC by issuing "stay orders". from Mantralay.

Earlier talking informally to media persons, Desai said the ruling DF has raked up the BMC issue to divert the attention of the people from the Adarsh housing land scam of the Congress party.

The Deccan Chronicle  14.12.2010

Dec.13: Poor maintenance, encroachment and digging up of footpaths have made walking a nightmare for pedestrians across the city. Even after a number of reports and special allocations in the BBMP budget, things have not changed at all. The main problem with the footpaths in the commercial areas of the city is rampant encroachment, poor maintenance, parking in residential areas and using the footpaths for vehicle parking, creating constant nuisance to walkers.

Even in congested areas like Richmond Road, Residency Road, Shivajinagar, Majestic, etc pavements are either being encroached upon or destroyed. In many places, footpaths which have been dug open for road widening work and laying of cables, remain in a state of disrepair even after several months, even as law enforcing agencies behave like mute spectators. According to officials, the BBMP is doing everything possible to ensure better pedestrian facilities, following the increasing number of walkers across the city. But the general perception is that even though BBMP is allocating sufficient funds for the improvement of pavements, no visible progress has been made.

According to the Policy Paper for Pedestrian Movement in the Bangalore Metropolitan Region, prepared by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport, just 60 per cent has been kept for Pedestrian Facilities in Cost Estimates for the entire Traffic and Transportation plan of the city, which is one of the major reasons for the problem. According to the report, city sidewalks are extensively used for parking and this, along with encroachments, creates a huge nuisance to pedestrians. According to the report, building pedestrian zones is one of the solutions to sort out the problem.

A.Ravindra, advisor to Chief Minister on Urban Affairs, says it is the responsibility of the Urban Local Bodies to ensure better pedestrian facilities. “State government has a clear-cut policy in this regard and has required ULBs including BBMP to keep money separate for this purpose. If the representatives failed to ensure this, people must reach out to them and find a solution for this problem. BBMP is solely responsible for all the issues related to the footpath problem,” he said.