May 8: What does a municipal corporation do when it has no official accommodation to allot the commissioner? Allow him to move into the local recreation centre, of course! At Ulhasnagar's VTC ground, a board now warns people to keep off the lawns while Municipal Commissioner R D Shinde potters around a vegetable patch he cultivated after moving into the sprawling 6,000 sq ft premises in August 1999.Consequently, the entire ground has been cordoned off and badminton enthusiasts are no longer allowed in. The complex, built in 1987 and maintained by the state Public Works Department, had fallen to ruin in 1992, when the table tennis facility, cafeteria and cardroom on the first floor were shut. Still, civic officials point out, Shinde was allowed to move in even though the corporation's General Body failed to pass the mandatory resolution permitting him to shift in.``We are completely in the dark about how a temporary arrangement was made into a permanent one (Shinde was officer-on-special-duty when he moved in),'' says Mayor Hardas Makhija.But Shinde himself is unruffled. ``Unlike the case in other municipal corproations, I have not been provided with an official bungalow,'' he told Newsline. ``I had been residing with my in-laws in Ulhasnagar but I did not want to impose on them any longer.''Shinde also denies he has been drawing House Rent Allowance (HRA) along with his salary after he shifted to the recreational centre. ``That is untrue. My HRA, which amounts to Rs 5,000, is deducted from my salary on a monthly basis as rent for this place,'' he explains. However, he could not explain how the amount had been worked out, when real estate experts say it should cost at least Rs 15,000 per month given the size of the place. ``What I am paying is in keepig with government stipulations as rent for a civic commissioner,'' he says.A Phatharpekar, joint secretary in the state Urban Development Department, which governs municipal corporations in the country, says the state government is aware of the issue. ``We shall have to look into the details before action is taken,'' she says.Meanwhile, residents who used to use the complex to chill out in the evenings are extremely upset. Says Sanjeev Sayani, who used to exercise on the lawns every day: ``I received a rude shock after the monsoon last year, when I decided to get back to my outdoor routine. Security gurads discouraged me from entering the lawns saying they were merely following orders. Now I have to work out in my cramped balcony.''Adds Jayant Madkar (60), whose evening chat sessions with his retired colleagues have since ceased: ``Our group simply broke up as most of us live in crapmed chawl rooms and there is no queestion of entertaining friends at home.''
