Corporators warn civic body of boycott for funds

KOLHAPUR: Members of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation's (KMC) standing committee on Friday suspended its meeting and threatened not to attend the weekly meet unless the civic administration did not grant the area development funds.
If the members stay away from the meeting, it would affect the functioning of the civic body as most of the issues related to finance are approved by the panel.
"Despite repeated demands by the corporators at the general body meeting and various platforms of the civic body, the administration is not ready to release the funds for the development work in their respective wards," standing committee chairman Ramesh Powar said.
"This has invited anger from the residents as most of the drainage and road repairs work have been halted for nearly seven months of this financial year. The corporators have not yet received the funds and therefore we are going to boycott the meeting till our demands are met," he added.
At the general body meeting held last month, the corporators had demanded immediate release of Rs 5 lakh against each of them.
However, the KMC administration refused to grant the amount citing financial constraints and said they would have to wait till March 2014 for the funds.
Responding to the issue, the officials in the administration assured that the funds would be released after discussions with the higher authorities.
There are 77 corporators in the KMC and the total amount needed for the area development funds is around Rs 35 crore.