Over the past weekend, ahead of the end of the five-year term of the civic body, elected representatives of all political parties of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are going out to hold inauguration and foundation-laying ceremonies for civic works in their constituencies. Before the upcoming municipal elections.
More than 50 events have been organized on Saturdays and Sundays. Councilors are rushing to hold the ceremony before their term ends on March 14. The PMC will have an administrator to look after all civil matters till the formation of a new general body after the civic elections.
The election was delayed due to the pandemic and the state government’s decision to hold the polls was reinstated after the state government ensured political reservation for the OBC community.
last week, while the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurated the Pune Metro Rail and laid the foundation stone of various mega civic infrastructure projects, BJP Former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil have also been roped in to inaugurate or lay the foundation stone for civic projects across the city.
Fadnavis will open a flyover on Karve Road which was constructed by Maha-Metro for PMC. It is a double decker flyover with vehicles on the first floor and a metro route on the second floor. The 550-metre long flyover is expected to tackle the traffic jam at the Nal stop. The BJP has also planned programs at Shivajinagar, Nagar Road and Solapur Road.
The BJP is also planning to organize a function to inaugurate the civic body’s Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical College in the coming week, inviting Union ministers for the ceremony.
The NCP, on the other hand, will join the main opposition, NCP, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar for the inauguration and foundation stone laying works of various civic works in the electoral ward represented by corporators. It is planning works on Nagar Road, Solapur Road, Satara Road and Warje. Earlier this week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar inaugurated a civil hospital in Warje.
Congress and Shiv Sena The corporators are trying to rope in the leaders of their respective states for their work in their electoral wards as well. A Congress councilor said, “These programs will be the last and for us these bodies will give a good message before the elections.”
A civic official said, “The most important thing is that the programs are being conducted through citizen fund as it is for PMC. Such functions cannot be organized by the councilor after the term ends on March 14. He will have to organize political programs with his own money from March 15.
The ruling BJP is trying hard to retain its hold on the PMC, which it managed to gain alone for the first time in 2017, while the NCP is looking to regain the power it lost in 2017. The opposition parties are undecided on whether to continue their state-level alliance. Municipal elections but local NCP and Congress leaders are insisting on contesting separately.