NCP walks out of PMC’s general body meeting, accuses BJP of ‘autocratic functioning’ for not discussing issues raised

Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporators in the PMC on Friday staged a walk-out of the general body (GB) meeting, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has the clear majority in the civic body, "is handling the administration autocratically."The corporators left the house en masse claiming that the BJP rejected their demand to postpone the GB meeting so that several key issues could be explored more comprehensively in multiple sessions.Nilesh Nikam, leader of opposition in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said, "Many corporators have been elected for the first time. They should get an opportunity to speak, too. If the GB had been postponed, they would have got more time to express their views better on various civic issues. Apart from this, discussions could have taken place about key questions raised by elected members in writing."He added, "However, BJP corporators rushed through the agenda instead and hurriedly completed the GB meeting. BJP intentionally avoided proper discussions on civic problems raised by opposition parties."During Friday's brief meeting, corporators had questioned the civic administration over celebrations of the bicentenary of social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, claiming that not enough has been done to mark the occasion.They demanded that PMC conduct multiple programmes throughout the year to mark Phule's birth anniversary.Besides this, opposition corporators said questions were raised on numerous sensitive civic issues, including riverfront development (RFD), tree replantations, hoarding policy, overhead cable policy, TDR allocation, water tankers in Wadgaonsheri areas, the Krantiguru Lahuji Vastad Salve memorial, diversion of nullahs and public parking — but not discussed.Elected members had also raised objections to plans of utilising around Rs6 crore to repair two flyovers in Hadapsar, saying that with this infrastructure to be demolished in the next six months, public funds would simply be wasted on their repairs now.Despite attempts by TOI to contact BJP corporator Ganesh Bidkar, leader of the house in PMC, he was not available for comment.