The civic health, law, and works committees (city) have cancelled their study tours to various destinations following criticism of the standing committee's winter vacation. The total number of corporators who have pulled out from the tours is 108.
BMC corporators have finally learnt their lesson. With civic standing committee members from the Shiv Sena and mayor Snehal Ambekar facing flak for going on a tour to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on public expense, over 100 corporators have cancelled their scheduled study tours.
The civic health, law, and works committees (city) have cancelled their study tours to various destinations following criticism of the standing committee's winter vacation. The total number of corporators who have pulled out from the tours is 108.
Almost all BMC corporators were set to take off for their winter vacation at the public's expense. In what is officially termed as a 'study tour', corporators from across BMC committees and panels were to head to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir and Kochi.
"The tour to Sikkim has been cancelled. As many standing committee members pulled out, we realised it wouldn't be fair if we went ahead with it," said MNS corporator Girish Dhanurkar, who is a member of the health committee. The health committee was to go to Sikkim.
Officials said that though BMC panels embark on study tours often, this was the biggest junket for corporators in recent times. Officials said each trip was costing around Rs10 lakh and the BMC could have ended up spending around Rs1 crore on all of them together.
The choice and purpose of destinations too was bizarre, they added. Corporators were heading to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to study roads and pavements, while they wanted to study the way Kochi is run by the municipal corporation there. Similarly another panel was to visit Port Blair to study tribal welfare schemes.
"The law committee's trip to Kerela has been cancelled. We may go to some other destination later. There are several pressing issues that need to be addressed," said Shiv Sena corporator Anil Trimbakkar, a member of the law committee.
The BJP on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to corporator Ritu Tawde for going on a 'study tour' to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands despite the party's diktat against it. Following criticism over the tours, the BJP had pulled out of the tour and asked all its corporators to stay back. Tawde, however, went ahead and joined Sena corporators on the tour.
Last week, 11 corporators from the civic standing committee, 22 from the works committee, and Ambekar, went on a four-day trip to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to "study their water storing facilities and drainage system". They received flak because the trip was planned at the last minute and the BMC had spent a lot for the air tickets and accommodation.
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