Halfway through first term, MNS governance dismal

NAGPUR: With the MNS halfway through its first term in power in the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) and mayor Yatin Wagh's 30-month tenure expiring in two weeks, the party has emerged as a divided house and the mayor has not been able to leave his footprints in civic affairs.
The MNS came to power in the city in 2012 with promises of providing better governance than other parties.It was the first time that the party had been elected to power ever since it was launched by Raj Thackeray after breaking away from Shiv Sena in 2006.
Mayor Wagh, who is the face of MNS governance in Nashik, has cut a sorry figure over the past 30 months. For instance, he has been adjourning NMC meetings, to offer condolences to departed leaders and kin of corporators without transacting any business. When some corporators suggested that the meeting could be adjourned for some time and resumed after a short break for the day's business, Wagh said a committee would look into the issue and submit a report. The findings of the panel are awaited.
For about a year after assuming office, the mayor was busy attending functions and felicitations. Later, he embarked on a campaign, 'Mayor Tumchya Daari' (Mayor at your doorstep), which eventually fizzled out. Subsequently, he came up with a list of blackspots ? where garbage clearance was an issue ? in seven prabhags of the city. A helpline was also announced for citizens to lodge complaints. The outcome of the exercise is yet to be revealed.
Likewise, at a time when the city is losing green cover in road widening ? with around 1,800 trees facing the axe in road widening ? the tree authority of the NMC is yet to be fully constituted. Ironically, the NMC has also not been able to meet even 50 per cent of its target of planting 50,000 trees per year, despite the city being included in the National Mission for Green India
For Nashik city, the MNS had promised a few things, but has not been able to deliver. For instance, its manifesto pledged footpaths in the city, where less than 10 per cent of roads have footpaths. The party had also promised better and transparent governance by making public the details of expenditure by the NMC every six months. In the past two-and-a-half years, it has not been done.
The MNS had campaigned against privatisation of octroi (that was done by the Sena-BJP alliance) and after assuming office, scrapped the contract. Subsequently, the MNS went on a privatisation spree. Vital civic installations like the Dadasaheb Phalke memorial and the planetarium are being privatised. Even Thackeray's pet project, the Goda Park along the Godavari banks, has been handed over to a private entity.
The Godavari, which is visited by pilgrims round the year for holy dip and carrying its ?holy' water back home as 'teerth', has become so polluted that the Bombay High Court had to direct the NMC to display boards warning people that its water is unfit for drinking.
Besides, clearance of around 450 tonnes of garbage generated in the city daily has been so miserable that three out of the six divisional committees of NMC — Cidco, Panchavati and Nashik West — have passed resolutions demanding that the garbage contracts be scrapped. The NMC has also shied away from running the local bus service, which is being operated skeletally by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.
The political smartness with which the MNS captured power in the NMC (by keeping out Sena and tying up with the BJP) was short-lived. It had to seek Sena's favour in civic panel polls and its alliance with the BJP is on the rocks. The turning point was the election of standing committee chairperson in which despite BJP's claim, the MNS managed to retain it. Now, the BJP has staked claim for the Mayoral chair.
Besides, warring factions in the MNS have come to the fore and the rift is widening. The acrimony has increased after the organisational changes made by Raj Thackeray after the debacle in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Thackeray appointed Rahul Dhikale (son of MNS MLA Uttamrao Dhikale) as the city president as well as the standing committee chairperson, much to the chagrin of the dominant group led by MNS MLA Vasant Gite. The two groups continue to indulge in one upmanship in civic affairs.
In desperation after the poll debacle, Thackeray has promised to turn Nashik into a free WiFi city, introduce Metro trains and gone to the extent of suggesting the possibility of introducing a tram service.
The bickering in the MNS and the civic governance under the leadership of Mayor Wagh have raised a question mark over the poll prospects of the MNS in the coming assembly elections, notwithstanding the boisterous talk of Thackeray and his lieutenants.