Pune: ruckus in civic meeting over gender budget

The Pune Municipal Corporation on Tuesday witnessed unruly scenes after the general body meeting was adjourned by the ruling alliance NCP-Congress members amid discussion on failure of the civic administration to implement the gender budget for the current fiscal.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday witnessed unruly scenes after the general body meeting was adjourned by the ruling alliance NCP-Congress members amid discussion on failure of the civic administration to implement the gender budget for the current fiscal.

There was pandemonium after corporator Ujjwal Keskar raised the issue of implementation of gender budget during the question hour. He sought clarification from the civic administration on actual implementation of the gender budget announced in the present fiscal. However,there was no response from the civic administration due to absence of chief accounts officer and effort to respond to queries by former chief accounts officer failed to satisfy the elected representatives. It is unfortunate that there is no response from civic administration on implementation of the gender budget at a time when the financial year is coming to a close, Keskar said.

As he continued to seek response from the civic authorities,Leader of the House Anil Bhosale moved an adjournment motion that was seconded by Congress corporator Ulhas Bagul. Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal accepted the adjournment of meeting amidst opposition from the corporators of Opposition parties.

This invited wrath of corporators who raised slogan against ruling alliance. Keskar alleged that the ruling alliance was suppressing his voice and not allowing corporators to speak. He later continued his agitation in the Mayors cabin and sat on the floor protesting against the way general body meeting was wrapped up. He was supported by the representatives of BJP,Shiv Sena and MNS.

The leaders of all parties rushed to the Mayors cabin to calm down the situation but it lead to an argument. Later,the issue was resolved after the Mayor assured that the general body meeting will be conducted at least for four days every month.

Earlier,BJP corporator Anil Shirole said the Mayor was setting a wrong precedent by not allowing corporators to speak while bowing to pressure from the ruling alliance. It seems the Mayor is unable to tackle such situations, he said. Shiv Sena leader Shyam Deshpande said it was an insult to the elected representatives when they are not allowed to complete their speech in the general body meeting. NCP leader Bhosale and Congress leader Bagul justified the adjournment,saying it was of no use continuing the discussion when the officer concerned was unavailable for response.

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