Members fo the civic standing committee will not be given passports because of criminal cases against them.
There is a zoo out there. And all the 27 members of the civic standing committee are eager to visit it. So, it is Thailand and Singapore a-calling for the members, but unfortunately for a few, the junket may turn out to be more like “junk it”.
Several members do not have passports, and what is more, quite a few of them cannot even expect it to be processed soon because of criminal cases registered against them at the respective local police station. A few members just don’t have passports.
Shiv Sena corporator Rajul Patel from Malad (West) said, “There are some criminal cases against me at the local police station. All these cases have been trumped-up charges out of political enmity.”
Ramesh Korgaonkar, another Sena corporator, said, “I had applied for a passport but the local police did not issue a no objection certificate. As a result, my passport application was rejected.”
Vandana Gawli, sister-in-law of Arun Gawli and corporator of Akhil Bhartiya Sena, said, “My record is clear and there is not a single case against me.”
Ravindra Waikar, standing committee chairman, said, “We will request the police commissioner to issue passports to all the standing committee members who do not have it.”
The reason for the visit is to gauge the bodies of work done by HKS Consultants, which has designed the zoos in both Thailand and Singapore. The consultancy firm is the frontrunner to bag the contract to refurbish the Byculla Zoo, but the standing committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (which runs the zoo) wants to be doubly sure that it is taking the right decision. The civic administration, which will plan the “study tour”, is only too willing.
On Wednesday, additional commissioner RA Rajeev told the committee at its meeting that the administration was ready to take its members to both Thailand and Singapore so that they could see for themselves what HKS Consultants was capable of.
The BMC has plans to develop the Byculla Zoo at par with any international zoo. The BMC has already made a budgetary provision of Rs200 crore for the upgradation of the Byculla Zoo.
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