Hold local body elections immediately, Ajit Pawar demands in Maharashtra Assembly

Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Ajit Pawar on Friday demanded that long-due elections to the local bodies in the state be held immediately.

Elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), other municipal corporations and local bodies are due for several months now.

Initiating a debate on the issues of urban development, housing, public health and medical education, the Nationalist Congress Party leader alleged that due to interference of the state government through administrators of local bodies, crores of rupees are being wasted. Funds of local bodies are being used to publish advertisements of the chief minister, Pawar claimed.

''Due to the stay to old projects and development works, there is resentment among the public,'' he said.

There are no elected representatives in municipal corporations for the last two and a half years and they are being run by administrators, he said, adding that the Eknath Shinde-led government did not seem to desire early elections.

In the absence of elected representatives in the Mumbai civic body (BMC), big projects should not be taken up as per the convention, Pawar said.

Still, under an administrator, decision for concretisation of 400 km of roads in the city was taken under the government's pressure and beautification projects worth Rs 7,100 crore were also taken up, the Leader of Opposition said. On the other hand, projects such as a cycle track from Mahim Fort to Bandra were scrapped and the present government, through advertisements, was also hogging credit for the decisions taken by the Shiv Sena when it controlled the BMC, he said.

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