A year after the Maharashtra Government appointed an administrator to Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), political parties have called for early elections. Opposition parties, including the NCP and Congress, have said the development of the city can be carried forward and the functioning of the administration can be made transparent and people-oriented only after corporators are elected.
On March 13 last year, the state government had announced that then municipal commissioner Rajesh Patil will continue to function as the PCMC administrator. This was after the five-year term of corporators came to an end on March 13, 2022. Patil, who took charge as the administrator, served for the next four months. After the Shinde-Fadnavis government took over in June, Shekhar Singh, who was the district collector of Satara, was appointed the PCMC administrator on August 16, 2022.
As Singh took over, the civic general body where policy decisions are taken after debate among corporators, was dissolved. The standing committee, the most powerful financial body which decides the fate of big-ticket projects, is now presided over by the administrator with officials serving as members.
While the Singh administration has taken a number of decisions—from giving approval to a cleanliness contractor worth Rs 338 crore, consent to the construction of a new PCMC building worth Rs 286 crore, to the green signal to internet cable work, and setting up of 500-bed hospital in Moshi—political parties, especially the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, have been demanding early conduct of the PCMC elections “to give justice to the city and its citizens.”
“We are not at all happy with the functioning of the PCMC administration. The administration is completely cut off from the people. Citizens have no clue who to call to address their grievances regarding basic amenities. Roads are in bad shape, traffic congestion problem is growing, and water shortage, including in high-rise buildings, continues to persist,” said Ajit Gavahane, President, Pimpri-Chinchwad Nationalist Congress Party.
The party has also criticised the way the PCMC administration has approved contracts and alleged corruption. “It has been noticed that the PCMC administration is awarding contracts without following the mandatory tendering process. We smell corruption in this kind of functioning. And despite our opposition, the PCMC administration has gone ahead and awarded the internet cable contract to a tainted firm,” Gavahane alleged.
Gavahane said only elected corporators can provide justice to citizens. “Citizen’s problems are aggressively put forth by corporators in the civic general body meeting. When the civic general body itself is not in existence, who will hear the citizens’ voices? Officers either do not respond to phone calls or they just ignore the calls and text messages,” he said.
Kailas Kadam, President, Pimpri-Chinchwad Congress, said citizens have been badly hit because there are no corporators. “The administration is not living up to the people’s expectations. Three years ago, an alternate-day water supply plan came into effect. Every day, citizens are complaining about water shortages. But this problem remains unresolved”.
“The voice of the people is not reaching the administration. Had corporators been elected, they would have effectively raised their voice in the civic general body meeting and forced the administration to take corrective steps,” Kadam said.
The Congress leader said even development-wise, the city has suffered a setback. “A corporator is in a position to tell the administration what project is required in his ward. Officials are not in a position to understand the requirement of each and every ward. As a result, currently, officials are clueless about what wards or people in different areas need. And therefore, new development projects are not coming up or those existing ones are moving at a slow pace,” he said.
Kadam also pointed out it was the Congress party which ruled PCMC since it came into being in 1986. “The Congress set the ball rolling for the development of the city. However, now the city’s development has come to a standstill. Therefore, an early election is the only solution to provide justice to citizens,” he said.
Newly-elected BJP MLA Ashwini Jagtap said, “Elections are a must in a democracy. However, since the issues like OBC reservations are pending in the Supreme Court, there has been a delay in holding the elections. The state government is taking all steps so that the court decides the matter early and elections too are held.”
Mahesh Landge, President, Pimpri-Chinchwad BJP, also said PCMC elections should be held as early as possible. “Elections are an integral part of our democracy. Elected corporators raise people’s problems in the civic general body and seek justice for them. Without people’s representatives, citizens’ voices remain unheard”.
However, Landge said the PCMC administration is doing a good job. “However, for every work, one has to rush to the commissioner. And therefore, elections should be held and corporators elected. Once they are in place, citizens can seek redress from them and they in turn will raise people’s problems with the administration,” he said.
The BJP leader said they are hopeful the Supreme Court will soon decide on holding civic elections. “We are looking forward to an early decision from the apex court on OBC reservations and holding of civic elections,” he said.
