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Short term for Mayor, deputy and panel members

Wednesday, 18 September 2013 05:06 administrator
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The Hindu             18.09.2013 

Short term for Mayor, deputy and panel members

Due process:Elections for the chairpersons of the 12 standing committees of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike being held on Tuesday.— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Due process:Elections for the chairpersons of the 12 standing committees of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike being held on Tuesday.— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

: The new members and chairpersons of the 12 standing committees of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will have to be content with just a seven-month term.

Their term will end on April 24, 2014, the same as that of Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana and his deputy Indira.

Sources said the BBMP had sought a legal opinion from the former Advocate-General Ashok Haranahalli in 2011 about the terms of the standing committees, which were formed after a delay of five months. In his opinion on April 18, 2011, Mr. Haranahalli cited the directions of the Karnataka High Court in a writ petition filed in 1998 on the term of standing committees.

In the writ petition, sources said, the High Court had stated that the terms of the standing committees and Mayors and Deputy Mayors will end on the date of the election of the first Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Going by this, the terms of the current Mayor and his deputy and the 12 standing committees will end on April 24, when the first Mayor S.K. Nataraj assumed office.

Several committee members are upset about this shortened term, it is said. “Each one of us will have our own set of plans for the city’s development and pace of working. We will not be able to achieve anything in seven months,” said a newly-elected panel member.

M.S. Shivaprasad, chairperson of the Standing Committee for Taxation and Finance, told The Hindu that the councillors knew that the term would be a short one. He, however, conceded that there was some confusion about the term. “The party may seek a legal opinion. No one is above the law. We will abide by the law,” he said.

Concurring, Umesh Shetty, chairperson of the Standing Committee for Town Planning, stated that they would all abide by the party’s decision and make way for the new committees in April 2014.

It may be recalled that though the term of the former Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy and the standing committees, whose terms are coterminous with that of the Mayor, ended in April 2013, elections could not be held as the matter regarding reservation was pending in the court.

Elections to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor was held on September 4. Though elections to the various committees was scheduled on the same day, it was postponed to September 11 and was eventually held on Monday.

 

Vadodara gets gift: Rs 5 cr toy train at zoo

Tuesday, 17 September 2013 08:04 administrator
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The Indian Express                17.09.2013

Vadodara gets gift: Rs 5 cr toy train at zoo

To mark the birthday of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation will launch a Rs 5-crore toy train, Sayaji Express, at the city zoo on Tuesday.

The civic body has projected the launch as Modi's gift to Vadodara residents. The VMC has put up several hoardings announcing the train, which will run over a 2.3-km stretch.

The train is much bigger than the previous one, Udyanpari, which was gifted to the zoo by erstwhile ruler of Baroda Maharaja Ranjitsinh Gaekwad.

"Gift of toy train to Barodians on the occasion of the birthday of Chief Minister Narendra Modi," read hoardings across the city. "We have managed to complete the task of setting up infrastructure to run the train before the CM's birthday," said a VMC official.

The four-bogie toy train, imported from the UK, has a seating capacity of 144 people. While the cost of the train is Rs 5 crore, another Rs 4.5 crore was invested on laying the tracks and maintenance under the public-private partnership model.

 

Dharavi mandal bags BMC's first prize for organ donation campaign

Tuesday, 17 September 2013 07:43 administrator
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The Indian Express                17.09.2013

Dharavi mandal bags BMC's first prize for organ donation campaign

Dharavi's Shri Hanuman Seva Mandal has been named the best mandal in Mumbai in a competition conducted by BMC.

Among 83 entries, three top mandals were chosen on basis of parameters that include community service, creativity and cleanliness.

"In previous years, winners were from areas like Borivali, Dahisar and Ghatkopar. It is encouraging to see BMC pick a winner from a slum locality like Dharavi," said Girish Walawalkar, secretary of Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti (BSGSS).

A panel of three jurors, two of them artists and the third a social activist, toured all competing mandals to examine decorations, maintenance and cleanliness, while also learning of their community service.

"At Borivali's Bal Vikas Mitra Mandal, we saw a huge arch constructed from 35,000 used plastic bottles," Vilas Gurjar, one of the jurors, said.

The plastic bottles were collected from all around the city by mandal workers. A total of 15 men worked on the arch for 25 days to erect the grand structure.

"We preferred economical, inventive decorations over lavish, indulgent ones. Service to community by the mandal was also an important factor," Gurjar said.

President of Shri Hanuman Seva Mandal, Nana Jagannath, said, "We organised an organ donation camp at our mandal. So far, 15 donors have registered for donating different body parts. To encourage organ donation, we produced an eight-minute film featuring donors from the past. We show this film every day at our mandal."

Parel's Mahadevachi Wadi Te Vageshwari Mandal, which won the second prize, organised a "Save Water" campaign to address water scarcity in the city.

Vile Parle's Bal Gopal Mitra Mandal won the third prize for its 18-ft Ganesha idol made from tissue paper. President of the mandal, Mohan Jadhav, said, "We make our idol from tissue paper every year. It takes only four men to carry our paper-made Ganesha idol."

 
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