TMC chief’s call to take leave for a month sets tongues wagging

THANE: It seems Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal has ‘given up hopes’ of improving the fiscal position and governance of the civic body.
Jaiswal, who took over the reins of the TMC early this year, is said to have gone on a month-long leave as he was apparently unhappy with the way the civic body was functioning. Political activities were given more importance over key issues like improving civic amenities and bailing out the cash-strapped TMT, said a civic source who is closely associated with Jaiswal.
The fiscal situation of TMC is so bad that the state government had instructed the civic body to get its credit rating done before going on a money borrowing spree.
When Jaiswal took charge, he had initiated a slew of measures like increasing water supply charges, property tax, hiking garbage collection charges, fare hike for TMT services and more.
‘‘The proposal was tabled at the recently-held general body meeting. But due to opposition from the ruling Sena-BJP members, the plan has been kept on hold. Similarly, the TMT fare hike issue has also been kept on hold due to opposition from the Congress-NCP members. The political tug-of-war between the saffron and Opposition members is making it difficult for the administration to streamline the issue. Upset with all these developments the civic chief decided to go on a long leave,’’ said the official.
Besides issues relating to improving the fiscal position of the TMC, the commissioner is said to be upset with the performance of the municipal councilors.
‘‘Several meetings were adjourned due to chaos in the House as members kept targeting each other on political issues rather than discussing matters on improving the facilities of the city. All this did not go down well with the commissioner,’’ the official added.