Indian Express 29.04.2010
Mayor draws MNS corporators’ ire for sponsoring Baisakhi celebrations
Express News Service Tags : MNS, Baisakhi celebrations Posted: Thursday , Apr 29, 2010 at 0147 hrs
Pune: Even though the corporators of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) kept mum over the issue during last week’s general body meeting, they have now come out demanding Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal’s resignation for accepting to become a co-sponsor for the Baisakhi festival, jointly organised by the Satsang Sewa Foundation and the Pune Municipal Corporation.
The corporators said that Rajpal had given away Rs 30 lakh for the festival without any ‘legal authority to do so’. MNS corporators Vasant More, Kishor Shinde, Rajendra Gorde, and party’s city unit chief Prakash Dhore said that if Rajpal did not quit on his own accord, they would agitate on May 4 at the civic headquarters. The Baisakhi festival was celebrated on April 17 and 18 for which the city municipal secretary’s office withdrew Rs 15 lakh as advance. As per the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations (BPMC) Act, the PMC cannot give any amount beyond Rs 20,000 in cash to any organisation. If the PMC wants to utilise money on its own, it has to invite tenders.
The act also says that if the civic body organised celebrations, entry to the event should be free for citizens. However, the Baisakhi festival organisers had charged an entry fee for a music programme.
On Wednesday, MNS corporators collectively demanded a resignation from the Mayor for breaching the law. “When the elected representatives ask for funds for carrying out development works in their wards, the civic administration refuses to pay it. The important works are thus put on the backburner, while funds for the programme like the Baisakhi festival is shelled out immediately, without anybody’s sanction. This is an illegal act and therefore, the mayor should step down from his post,” the MNS corporators said.
They also pointed out that the civic body had rejected co-sponsorship for a mega-play Shambhuraje, a play depicting Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj’s life, under the pretext that the tickets of that show had already been sold out.
“Why did they reject Shambhuraje and agreed to give money for Baisakhi? This is like acting in favour of one particular community, while acting against another,” the corporators alleged
