Standing panel chief wants new luxury car worth Rs13.63L

Nagpur: Pradip Pohane, chairman of Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) standing committee and two-time BJP corporator, has sought a luxury four-wheeler costing Rs13.63 lakh.As per the proposal, which was prepared by the general administration department, Pohane has sought a new vehicle — Tata Hexa XT 4x3 diesel seven-seater. He cited that his official car has been in use for five years and run almost over 1.24 lakh km. Hence, he needs a change.As per the government resolution dated January 21, 2017, the limit for spending on four-wheelers for office-bearers and officials should not exceed Rs6 lakh. As Pohane’s choice vehicle is costing double the sanctioned amount, the GAD has submitted the proposal before the standing committee meeting to be held on Friday. In his budget, Pohane had made a provision of Rs25 lakh for purchasing new vehicles.According to sources in NMC’s workshop department, the civic body spends almost Rs10 lakh per month over maintenance of its 130 vehicles, including 28 vehicles allotted to elected office-bearers and senior officials.The move has drawn sharp criticism from people, as NMC has failed to bring down its establishment expenditure. Against 35% of its income, the NMC’s establishment expenditure is around 50%, sources said.Even the state government had stopped it from implementing Seventh Pay Commission due to this. It also consistently refused to appoint more personnel in various departments to keep a check on the establishment expenditure. But this hasn’t stopped NMC from renovating chambers of various special committee chairmen and shopping for brand new vehicles for office-bearers.Pohane, who assumed the charge of standing committee chairman in February, bought a Honda City five years ago. The department also provides for fuel for this official car.Senior Congress corporator Sandip Sahare said it was not the first time that the BJP-ruled NMC has gone overboard with spending taxpayers’ money. Citing an example, Sahare said a couple of years ago, former mayor Nanda Jichkar did the same thing. “Soon after she became mayor in March 2017, the NMC purchased a new luxury car costing Rs14.13 lakh for her,” he said.According to him, the NMC’s financial crisis has forced many projects to linger, including cement road works. He expressed anguish over the BJP-ruled NMC’s spending spree at a time when the civic body was reeling under severe financial crisis.