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BMC leaders off to Turkey on study tour, without invite

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Given how party group leaders in the BMC have taken off for Turkey for fours days, apparently on a study tour, you would think how concerned they are to provide good services to citizens. But Istanbul's invite did not include them, nor did the trip proposal moved by them had the civic chief's nod.

Politicos such as standing committee chairman and Shiv Sena corporator Yashodhar Phanase, BJP group leader Manoj Kotak, opposition leader Devendra Amberkar (Congress), NCP group leader Dhananjay Pisal, Samajwadi Party's Rais Shaikh, and Sandeep Deshpande of MNS are visiting Turkey, reportedly to study the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) and solid waste management projects there. Senior BJP corporator Dilip Patel is also part of the sojourn.

According to sources, a city Parliamentarian and a legislator are set to join these leaders later this week for the tour scheduled from Thursday to Sunday.

Sources, however, claimed that mayor Snehal Ambekar alone received the formal invitation from Istanbul. "But she is unlikely to visit the city," a source close to her said. House leader and Sena corporator Trushna Vishwasrao also gave the trip a miss.

As reported in dna in October 2013, the BMC group leaders had approved a proposal seeking a visit to Istanbul to study the BRTS. The proposal was moved by Patel, then the BJP group leader. But BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte said he had not approved Patel's proposal. "I have not approved any proposal. The corporators have made the trip in their private capacity," Kunte said.

A senior civic official added, "The leaders are making the trip on their own."

Citizen activists have demanded that the corporators come clear on the trip's funding. "If the public representatives are making this trip to Istanbul on their own, they should clarify it to Mumbaikars. Plus, if at all it is a study tour, whoever be the sponsor, they should share the information for welfare of city," said Raj Kumar Sharma, head of Chembur-based citizens' group Almanac.

Sharma suggested to the BMC to send officials who have technical knowhow, instead of corporators, on official study tours. "Corporators may not have technical understanding of a subject, but the officials (who are field experts) will. Such tours will benefit the city more if experts make study visits," Sharma added.

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