Over 250 notice of motions pending with BMC

Sandeep Patel, a BJP corporator from P South ward of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) received applause from the party after his demand for singing of national song Vande Mataram to be made mandatory in civic runs schools was cleared by BMC general body in August last year. A section of political parties had opposed the proposal as they termed it unnecessary pressure on students.

Like Patel, several corporators had moved notice of motion that impacts a large section for their benefits. However, many of them are still pending for approval. The purpose to bring such proposals is to get immediate attention of common citizens. Since 2004, there were 252 such populist notice of motions are pending for approval from BMC commissioner and the state government.

Some of the notice of motions that attracted people as well as political parties’ attention are Yoga in schools, rebate in property tax for house below 500 sq feet, reward for securing 80 per cent marks in school, beautification of Gateway of India with sound and light systems, regularisation of slum from 1996 to 2000 through survey among others. However, none of them came into affect as these proposals were not cleared by the civic chief and the state government.

According to an official from the Municipal Secretary (MS) department of BMC, a notice of motion is required to be passed from civic chief or state government depend on the nature of the demand. “Even the general body of BMC clears notice of motion, the proposal can not be brought into affect as these proposal requires remark from civic chief or the state government, depend upon the nature of demand,” said the official.