Indian Express 15.12.2009
No civic official during visit hours, MNS locks office
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Monday launched an agitation against the Pune municipal administration and locked two offices in the civic headquarters when officers were not present during the visiting hours for public.
The MNS said absence of officers was causing inconvenience to citizens. “The civic body has kept 3 pm-5 pm as visiting hours for public, but the officers have been frequently found missing from their offices. The citizens are facing inconvenience due to this and have to make rounds of the civic body to get their work done,” said MNS leader Ravindra Dhangekar. He locked the office of city engineer Prashant Waghmare and Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Electrical) Vijay Dahibhate. “We will continue to keep a watch on them. If they remain absent during the visiting hours for public, the offices will be locked even if it is the office of the municipal commissioner,” he said.
Dhangekar said civic officers had recently been to Mahabaleshwar at the behest of ruling NCP for a brainstorming session on the development work of the PMC. “It is beyond our understanding how the civic officers could attend such a meeting but find no time for the citizens,” he said, calling for an investigation into such behaviour of the officers.
The BJP has also criticised the civic officers attending the meeting. “What kind of discussion on development was being carried out in Mahabaleshwar which was not possible in the city. The munincipal commissioner should clarify the stand of civic administration,” said BJP leader Mukta Tilak. A delegation of BJP corporators would meet Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zagade on the issue. The civic administration said the officers were not present in their offices as most of them were in a meeting on budget 2010-11 .
