8 functions in 3 days,ahead of model code

Union Urban Development Minister Dr Jaipal Reddy will perform the bhoomi puja for the Middle Vaitarna dam on Tuesday. Work on the BMC project started in January but the formal ceremony has been delayed; the Congress wanted the President to conduct the ceremony.

Another ceremony on Tuesday will mark the closure of the Deonar dumping ground and the “handing over to the public” of the one at Gorai,closed since last year. The bhoomi puja will be held by the BMC and the Shiv Sena; Congress leaders will attend.

Both the Congress and the Shiv Sena will try to take credit for the three large-scale projects. At the local level,Sena corporators will inaugurate a number of projects,three of which in the constituency of standing committee chairman Ravindra Waikar who is also vying for the assembly seat.

On Tuesday,functions will be held for a trauma hospital at Jogeshwari East and an east-west connecting bridge at Jogeshwari (west). On Thursday,a municipal market will be inaugurated at Poonam Nagar; on Friday,Sena corporator Bala Sawant will inaugurate Nandadeep Garden in Bandra,months after holding the bhoomi puja.

“These functions are just symbolic and aimed at wooing voters,” said a civic official. “Work on the dam is already under way and the Gorai dumping ground will not be accessible to the public for a year.”