Corporators discuss unused funds in first meeting post BMC election

The first general body meeting  of the newly elected corporators of the Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation (BMC) was held on Friday. In the first house itself, a point of order was raised by the leader of the house, Yashwant Jadhav, stating that the corporation had utilised only 25% of the funds from the financial budget of 2016-17, which the BJP and Congress also supported.

Municipal Commissioner, Ajoy Mehta is expected to submit his report on this point of order.

The BMC house questioned the corporation on its Rs 61,000 crores fixed deposit on which it earns Rs 4,500 crore interest. The house appealed the commissioner to give details on how much fund from every budget has remained unused and which banks it was invested in.

The body also demanded details the amount saved in each bank and what interest the civic body earns out of it. Accordingly, the commissioner is expected to submit the details on the fixed deposits from the unused funds in Saturday’s general body meeting.

The BMC’s first general body meeting was held without the opposition leader of the house. As the Shiv Sena is in power in the BMC and the BJP has supported the Sena, Congress being the third largest party can have the opposition leader. The Congress party leader Ravi Raja has written to Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar (Shiv Sena), claiming that being the Congress group leader, he should be made the opposition leader of the house. However, the mayor has not replied to Ravi Raja. The Shiv Sena has approached the legal department to consult on the issue.