Re-print order for Mayor’s official diary draws flak

Earlier this month,Bankar,reacting to a mail from a member of the school education board,had ordered a reprint of the diary,to insert the correct form of address for Pawar. Apparently,the official diary,6,000 copies of which were already printed,lacked the proper form of address for the Union Minister. As per the normal procedure,this year too,the municipal body had printed names of various MPs and MLAs of the district without mentioning if they are ministers. This apparently has been the norm for several years.

A member of the education board had brought up the issue and had sought a correction. The Mayor immediately gave orders for around 250 diaries to be reprinted,which would be distributed to the elected representatives.

Kumbhar in his letter claimed that the expenditure for the re-print could have been avoided. He pointed out that the old norm of addressing MPs and MLAs were followed. “Such actions would set a bad precedent,” he said.

Reacting to Kumbhar’s criticism,leader of house Subhas Jagtap blamed the civic administration for the mistake. “It is customary to address the ministers in a certain fashion and the administration should have adhered to it. Also,they did not show us the rough draft of the diary before printing,and thus a re-print had to be ordered,” he said.