Ahmedabad: 4 budgets worth Rs 1K cr approved

According to the senior councillors of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), for the first time, four budgets were approved without any discussion, after a war of words erupted between BJP and Congress leaders over time allotment. Budgets worth Rs 1,349.22 crore were approved amidst ruckus, without giving any chance to the elected representative to speak or start a discussion.

In the two-day Budget session of the AMC, a general board meeting was held on Saturday to discuss the budgets of School Board (Rs 673 crore), MJ Library (Rs 12.86 crore), VS Hospital (Rs 213.36 crore), the Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS, Rs 450 crore), and the general Budget (Rs 8,051 cr), which are expected to be presented before the board on Sunday.

After mourning the Pulwama terror attack martyrs, standing committee chairman Amul Bhatt proceeded with budgetary allocation for the school board for thirteen minutes in which majority of the speech praisd Prime Minister Narendra Modi and some chief ministers. "Even if there is an education in politics, there should be no politics in education. It is a matter of pride that the newly-announced English-medium school in place of Shahpur Urdu-medium school gets more than 400 students within a few days," said Bhatt.

Later, when Congress councillor Jagdish Rathod was presenting a proposal on behalf of his party, the mayor asked him to sit down after only fifteen minutes of his speech. Incidentally, Rathod kept talking even after his mike was switched off. It was then time for a BJP councillor, Bhvna Nayak, to support a proposal put up by the chairman.

Congress leaders asked the mayor to give more time to speak as this was the only time when the elected members could discuss. However, mayor Bijal Patel didn't listen to them and asked Nayak to continue her speech. Meanwhile, Amit Shah, BJP leader said that if Congress members didn't want to listen, they could leave. The Mayor approved the Budget within seconds without any discussion.

A ruckus erupted in the House, where Congress held a mock budget and staged a protest before the mayor's office. Congress chanted 'AMC ka Chowkidar Chor Hai', and BJP members yelled 'Pappu Ka Khandan Chor Hai'.

On Sunday, the board will meet for the general budget discussion.

No Time To Talk

• Cong leaders asked the Mayor to give more time to speak as it was the only time when the elected members could discuss 
• However, mayor Bijal Patel didn’t listen to them and approved all Budgets within seconds, without any discussions