Ugly scenes in RMC as Congress-BJP corporators face off over drinking water issue
UNRULY SCENES played out at the general board meeting of Rajkot Municipal Corporation and inside the chamber of Rajkot mayor Jaiman Upadhyay as corporators of opposition Congress and the ruling BJP got involved in ugly face off on various issues on Tuesday.
It all started with Congress corporator from ward 13, Jagruti Dangar rushing to the chair of mayor as the general board meeting began. She claimed that city engineer of central zone was biased as he was not approving work suggested by her in her constituency but those suggested by BJP corporators had been getting green signal. She placed a letter and the set of her letterheads on the mayor’s desk saying she was surrendering it and want to transfer the her grant for local area development to the city engineer. Mayor Jaiman Upadhyay asked Dangar to meet him after the meeting gets over.
But while the municipal commissioner was replying to question asked by BJP corporator Dalsukh Jagani about RMC projects funded under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), Congress croporator Mansukh Kalariya intervened at sought to know the completion deadlines of the project. BJP members opposed the intervention but Congress corporators again rushed to the well, prompting marshals to surround them.
Temporary truce was brokered when senior BJP corporator Nitin Bhardwaj intervened and suggested that Congress members be also allowed to ask supplementary questions even out of turn as, he said, all the 72 corporators had the right to raise questions of the residents of the city. But towards the end of the meeting, the commotion returned as leader of opposition, Vashram Sagathiya alleged that residents in some areas were getting drinking water once in six days. Fellow Congress corporator Vijay Vank joined in and shouted that he was giving a deadline of one week to RMC to solve the issue or he would launch an agitation.
As the mayor directed for taking up other items on agenda, Congress corporators displayed banners in the meeting hall alleging corruption in rehabilitation of Raiyadhar slum on public private partnership mode. The banners alleged why the RMC was not seeking payment of Rs5 crore premium from the private developer. But BJP corporators also pulled out their banners alleging Congress MLA from Rajkot East, Indranil Rajyaguru had warmed up to the private developer after initial protest against the project.
As the meeting got over, Congress corporators went to the chamber of mayor and sat on floor instead of chairs arranged there. Dangar repeated her wish to surrender her grant to the city engineer. However, she relented after the mayor assured her of a solution. After that, Sagathiya requested the mayor to consider his proposal for embossing a portrait of Dr BR Ambedkar on the wall vigilance office in RMC headquarters. But Upadhyay told him that BJP corporator Raju Aghera had also moved a similar proposal for installing Ambedkar portrait at “appropriate” place in the RMC and that it had been approved in the just concluded meeting. This led to arguments and counterarguments between Congress corporators and mayor, Bhardwaj and Ashish Vagadiya, chairman of sanitation committee. Meanwhile Vank repeated his “warning” of eight days to solve the issue of drinking water. Bhardwaj, who was sitting beside the mayor asked Vank to mind his language. Upon this, Vank and Congress corporators rushed to the mayor’s desk. An excited Bhardwaj ordered the opposition members to go out of the chamber. Abuses were hurled from the members of the ruling party as police swung into action and forcibly escorted Congress corporators out of the chamber.
However, Parul Der, Congress corporators from Ward 11 took offence at what she claimed to be an insult by Vagadiya to her community of Ahirs. “Vagadiya said Vank was an Ahir and that Ahirs don’t know how to speak. I told him that he can surely criticise Vank but asked him to refrrain from making comment on Ahirs as a community. But he refused to apologise,” Der claimed.
Der demanded that Vagadiya come out of mayor’s chamber and apologise for his comment on Ahir community. Other Congress members supported her and sat on dharna outside the mayor’s chamber and raised slogans against Vagadiya. When no response for about an hour, Sagathiya and other Congress corporators tried to barge in the mayor’s chamber. But police pushed them out of the RMC office and escorted them downstairs.
Der tried to snatch a baton from policemen while yelling she will beat up Vagadiya but she was pacified by others. After considerable time, Congress corporators regrouped, went upstairs and broke nameplates at the office of Vagadiya and other BJP corporators holding positions in the RMC and then went away.
This was the seventh meeting since the new general board of the civic body was formed after elections in 2015. BJP had managed to retain power with a slender margin. But since then, the three-monthly general board meetings have remained stormy. Apprehending trouble, riot controlling vehicles were parked at the RMC headquarters and heavy police deployment was made before the start of the meeting.
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