‘Busy’ Mayor changes PMC I-Day tradition

“The flag hoisting at the civic headquarters is done by the Mayor in presence of civic staff and elected representatives. The practice has always been to have this ceremony before 8.30 am and this will be the first time that the PMC ceremony would be as late as 9.45 am,” said a civic officer.

In fact,the civic staff was so confused about the timing given in the notification that they tried to ascertain whether it was a printing mistake. The powers of deciding on the timing of flag hoisting are with the Mayor and the civic staff will have to follow it,said another officer.

“I decided to have flag hoisting ceremony at the civic headquarters at 9.45 am because it is not possible between 8.30 am and 9.30 am as per the communication of the district collector. I will be busy hoisting flag at civic schools before 8.30 am and the only convenient time for me is 9.45 am,” confirmed Mayor Vaishali Bankar.

Every year,the district collector requests that the flag hoisting time at other establishments should not clash with that of the Council Hall,where the governor hoists the flag at 9 am. Thus,the PMC preferred to hoist the flag by 8.05 am.

Former mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale said,“The new timing of flag hoisting at civic headquarters is too late. The flag hoisting ceremony on Independence Day is a special moment for every citizen.”

The PMC main building is the head office of the city and the timing of 9.45 am would mean that the civic body would be the last in the city to hoist flag,she said,adding,“During my tenure as mayor,I wanted to hold the ceremony at 7.30 am at PMC main building but the civic administration requested that it be allowed to continue with 8.05 am citing poor attendance of elected representatives at that time.”

“The current Mayor is from my area and would have to cover the same distance that was covered by me. She may have been misguided by someone.” tribute to Deshmukh

The PMC has decided to postpone all its other functions organised on Independence Day as a mark of respect to former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who passed away on Tuesday. “It was decided by leaders of all the political parties to postpone all the scheduled programmes,except flag hoisting ceremony,organised by PMC,” said Bankar.