Cheer and shouts of victory erupted among hordes of people who were expecting to the privatisation of the swimming pools to be rolled back. Only three days after Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had proposed to privatise 14 swimming pools in the city, the local civic body rolled back its decision Monday evening.
AMC had sent the proposal to its standing committee last week. The decision, however, was rolled back following several Congress members protesting and seeking to take back the idea.
The 100% fee hike, however, remains, an AMC official source said.
"We have dropped the decision of roping in private players for operating the swimming pool. The decision comes as the people wanted so," said standing committee chairman Amul Bhatt.
The proposal
At present, there are 14 swimming pools in Ahmedabad. According to the proposal sent by AMC commissioner Vijay Nehra, the private players were roped in to maintain and operate the existing and up-coming pools in the city.
What happens to the proposal The work and the private parties that were sanctioned by the standing committee stand rejected.
Political chaos
The opposition party was against the move of roping in private players and 100% fee hike. Several members of the BJP and the Congress staged a protest in front of mayor Bijal Patel's office on Saturday. Also, MLAs Gyasuddin Shaikh and Imran Khedavala objected the proposal in a coordination meeting held on Saturday at west zone's office of the civic body.
People's victory
Ahmedabad Swimmers Association on Monday celebrated the victory. They said, "The rollback is because of people's movement. This was an anti-people decision. All swimmers across the city are celebrating. The protest will continue," said Jayesh Patel, one of the members of the club. Leader of opposition Dinesh Sharma and former leader of opposition Badruddin Shaikh said it was people's victory and the decision was dropped after the Congress staged the protest.
The party will keep fighting till the fee hike is rolled back too.
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