Kshatriya’s style of functioning did him in,say corporators

Shiv Sena MLA and BMC Standing Committee member Ravindra Waikar said projects progressed at a snail’s pace during Kshatriya’s term. “It was possibly the longest that any file took to get cleared. So many important projects such as the underground multi-level car parking,the Ashray housing project (for conservancy workers),setting up of grey water recycling and desalination plants are just some of the projects that did not take off this year,” said Waikar. Work on two underground car parks at Hutatma Chowk and Regal Circle in South Mumbai were scheduled to start this year but remain stalled. The Ashray project to house over 50,000 conservancy workers on 19 plots at a cost of Rs 50 crores has not started either.

Another Standing Committee member said Kshatriya often didn’t take an immediate stand on matters. “It is difficult to think about the past one year and point out what went wrong,because nothing really happened. In his effort not to displease anyone,important projects didn’t move even an inch.” The same corporator,however,said Kshatriya’s own image remained clean.

Congress corporator Sameer Desai said,“The BMC has been in a very delicate situation for past decade with expenditure on a constant rise with no simultaneous rise in revenue. When Kshatriya took over,a major part of the damage had already been done. But he was unable to do much to even initiate possible solutions. Some progress should have been made on solving the SAP problem in accounting that has held back the balancesheet for the past three fiscals,” said Desai. Subodh Kumar,on the other hand,is known for his financial expertise and bailed the BMC out of a Rs 600-crore in 2000.  

Kshatriya also seemed to have failed to keep a control on political demands. A water department officer said his decision to give in to the corporators’ demand of a complete rollback of water cut was an example if this. “There were occasions when corporators unreasonably demanded partial and complete rollback of cuts and Kshatriya gave in to the demand despite the sensitive situation,” said the official.

When contacted,Kshatriya said he did not have to say anything in this regard. “I would not like to comment on the issue because I have nothing to say in this regard. I will obey my transfer order by the state government from the BMC to the Revenue Department and I am looking forward to my new job,” he said.