Maharashtra government has announced 16 members and 15 special invitees including NCP MP Supriya Sule Shiv Sena Sanjay Raut, MP for the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) of the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), will be headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. However, the move has attracted the ire of the opposition. BJP, which has alleged that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has deliberately kept BJP leaders out of it.
Sule, Raut, Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne, Shiv Sena MLA Tanaji Sawant and Congress MLA Sangram Thopte have been appointed by the state government in the list of 15 special invitees to the MPC.
City BJP president Jagdish Mullick alleged, “The chief minister is deliberately doing politics by keeping the elected representatives of the BJP out of the MPC.”
He informed that the MPC has not included elected representatives of BJP including city MP Girish Bapat, Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, any MLA or corporator of the party, while Raut and Sawant of Shiv Sena have been included as special invitees, Although they are not related. with PMRDA
“Pune is one of the fastest developing cities in the country. Since 1997 there was a demand to create a metropolitan authority for the planned development of the area. Its formation was delayed due to differences between the Congress and the NCP as to who should lead it. In the end, it was formed by the BJP-led government under the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Thereafter the PMRDA prepared a development plan for the metropolitan area along with the mega infrastructure project of Ring Road and Shivajinagar-Hinjewadi Metro Project. Now, the chief minister’s political turmoil on PMRDA has kept BJP MLAs away from it. We condemn this move,” he said.
However, the Congress, one of the constituents of the MVA, dismissed the BJP’s allegations as “baseless”.
“It is a baseless allegation. The state government has the discretion to appoint MPC members for the PMRDA and the BJP should stop making it a political issue,” city Congress spokesperson Ramesh Iyer said.
In a July 16 order, the state urban development department announced that Thackeray would head the MPC, while Sunil Shelke of the NCP and Sanjay Jagtap of the Congress would be its members, as well as the administrative head of the Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. . Pimpri Chinchwad New Township Development Authority), and the city councils of Alandi, Talegaon Dabhade and Lonavala.
Expert members of MPC include Chief Engineer of Public Works Department, Executive Director of Maharashtra Krishna Valley Development Corporation, President of Maharatta Chamber of Commerce and Industries and retired town planner BV Kolatkar. The Principal Secretary, Urban Development Department and Pune Divisional Commissioner are permanent members of the MPC while the PMRDA CEO is the member-secretary of the committee.
The invited list also includes Maharashtra Life Authority, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited and Chief Executive Officer of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.
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