On May 16, Shiv Sena's Ram Repale was elected as TMC standing committee's chairman.
Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) finally has a functional standing committee after it received its chairman on Wednesday, an appointment that was pending following a delay of 15 months due to a series of technical glitches in the committee's formation.
On May 16, Shiv Sena's Ram Repale was elected as TMC standing committee's chairman. A Thane activist, however, laments that the city functioned well even without the committee as all projects were being cleared by the TMC's general body in the committee's absence.
Repale was elected unopposed as Narayan Pawar from the Congress took back his candidature the last minute on Wednesday."Finally we have a standing committee after 16 months," said Sanjeev Sane of Thane Matdata Jagran Manch (TJMJ). "The formation of the committee was deliberately delayed by the Sena and now we heard even the NCP wants to go to the high court to challenge it," he said.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has challenged the formation of the standing committee. "We term this committee as illegal and boycott it. We will go to court," said Anand Paranjape, senior leader, NCP.
In April 2016, the formation of TMC standing committee was challenged in the high court as it did not have the required majority. "The matter is to come up for hearing on June 25 yet they have gone ahead with it," said Paranjape.
The absence of TMC's standing committee chair, who is also known to hold the treasury of a municipal corporation, however, did lead to a delayed budget this year. As a result, nullah cleaning work begam mid-May as the proposal was approved and contractors assigned in April end.
Along with this, chairman of other committees — women and child welfare, education, sports and culture, health committee were also selected on May 16. "This shows that in Thane, things can work out even without these committees," said Sane.
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