Runaway MiC has a great fall

Prominent among these are the volte-face the BMC did on its octroi levy on medicines; the opposition it still faces from the state government on the aerated lagoons contract; convulsions within the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP in the corporation on bottled mineral water; the slugfest between the Shiv Sena and BJP over the recent dereservation issue; and two major court cases 8211; the proposed hawking zones and the stray dog menace.

The reasons for the giant-size mess it will have to mop up on its own are notdifficult to divine. Decision-making has been fuelled at times by whimsy and on other occasions by a certain smugness on the part of the city fathers as well as the mayor Nandu Satam, who have never before savoured such sweeping powers. Though power has been delegated to the MiC8217;s 11 committees, it is the mayor whose word is final. Opposition members, who are rarely taken into confidence by the mayor, naturally feel betrayed and even non-council Sena members in private say introducing the system was clearly a mistake. Details of discussions, debates and decisions made by the council is not so much as whispered outside their confines.

What is disturbing, though, is the dissent bubbling up between the alliance partners in the corporation. Equally worrisome is the feeling among corporators that the state government has been uncooperative by pulling the plug on at least two major civic proposals. Some corporators call it downright interference.

For the first time ever, the BJP recently decided to oppose adecision taken jointly with the Sena 8211; on the dereservation of land at Trombay. Suddenly, the BJP did a turnaround saying the decision should never have been passed in public interest. The Opposition Congress, of course, is wagging its tail all the way to court, and have filed a petition against the dereservation which it alleges is a sellout to vested interests.

Then there was the mini-revolt within the BJP itself, when the party8217;s group leader in the House, Arun Deo, discovered that the proposal to bottle and sell mineral water to Mumbaikars at a profit was financially unviable. An announcement to this effect left Deputy Mayor Gopal Shetty BJP, who had originally fielded the idea, red-faced, since he had not been apprised of the decision by his colleagues.

The BMC8217;s quarrel with the state government is that the Sena-BJP alliance, which heads the state, is unsupportive of its decisions. For the first time in the century-old history of the BMC, city fathers had to face the embarrassment of being askedto suspend one of its proposals 8211; on the octroi levy on medicines, which was earlier ratified by the government. When the opposition from the chemists grew fierce, the government suo moto assured them that the levy would be suspended. Setting a precedent, the state Urban Development Department, under whose jurisdiction the BMC falls, invoked Section 520B and suspended the resolution passed in the civic House.

Corporators, however, argue that the government should have considered the fact that medicines in other states are subjected to octroi and given the Rs 400-crore deficit in the BMC, the proposal should never have been suspended. It is a different matter that the BMC had itself failed to take the chemists into confidence before announcing a decision that was bound to be opposed tooth and nail.

The second blow fell when the government questioned the BMC8217;s decision to award the contract for construction of aerated lagoons at Ghatkopar and Bhandup to Gammon India. In a letter to the BMC, thegovernment told the civic authorities that the decision could jeopardise other World Bank-aided projects. With corporators disclaiming any lacunae, they claim the government acted under pressure from the bank though there is no doubt who will have to take the rap.

The criticism over the stray dog menace and hawking zones issues, both of which are in court, is a combination of being foisted with a hangover of previous regimes, the apathy of the current regime and the knee-jerk reaction prompted by the MiC8217;s stance.

Asked to explain precisely what is going wrong, different sections of corporators speak in different voices. Says Mayor Nandu Satam of the state government8217;s new-found confrontationist8217; attitude: 8220;We stand by our decisions and it is for the state government to do what they want.8221; One Opposition corporator confided, 8220;The MiC was introduced to vest more powers to the elected representatives. But this does not mean that the MiC members can act like ministers and take arbitrarydecisions.8221;

Unless the MiC, which rules the civic corporation of one of the country8217;s largest metros, matures into a forum of responsible citizens, absolute power and bull-headed decisions will continue to fuel a directionless system. Checks and balances are imperative and transparency is a must. Apart from the monthly confidential report submitted by the municipal commissioner to the chief minister, there is no other way to rein in the MiC.

Unless, of course, the runaway horse stumbles into a hole from which it cannot emerge. The alarm bells at present are only chiming. But with the Opposition already talking of seeking the mayor8217;s resignation, the sound could end into a deafening uproar.

Prasanna Khapre is a reporter with The Indian Express. She covers BMC