Mumbai:
Hoping to take advantage of the benevolence of a new boss, corporators have renewed their demand for a raise. Congress representative Sunil More has demanded a hike in the corporators' honorarium by 150 per cent. The demand has perhaps been revived by the corporators since a new municipal commissioner has been in office since Monday. Last year, Commissioner Subodh Kumar had rejected the request. The honorarium was last revised in November 2010, when it was raised from Rs 4,000 to Rs 10,000. Currently, the BMC shells out approximately Rs 3.2 crore annually for honorariums and other allowances for corporators. If the corporators have their way, the amount will be pushed up to Rs 7.35 crore per year.
Sunil More, who is the corporator of Dadar (East), demanded that they be doled out an honorarium of at least Rs 25,000 per month, along with pension facilities. "The BMC should consider the demand and make budgetary provisions for the same in the current fiscal," said More at the civic body's standing committee meeting to discuss the 2012-13 budget.
Lacking support
More's demand for more has not found support from all quarters, however. Dilip Lande, a representative of the MNS in the BMC, didn't join the chorus, and instead asked that corporators be treated for free in hospitals. "I am not in agreement with the demand made for hike in honorarium, but the civic body should provide for free treatment," he said. He added that corporators often had to skip meals, causing them to have poor health. "We don't get to eat at periodic intervals and often don't get enough sleep. Though many corporators prefer to go to private hospitals, they would be willing to opt for civic hospitals if they were assured free treatment," said Lande.
'State will decide'
Officials from the civic administration, however, said that the state would have the final say in the matter of raises for corporators. "I would not comment off hand. We have to look into the legal aspects. But the state should take the final decision about honorarium," said Mohan Adtani, additional municipal commissioner, who attended the standing committee meeting.
MNS corporators return free passes
29 MNS corporators have returned their free bus passes to the BEST administration as a gesture of solidarity with citizens who will be suffering fare hikes soon. Refusing the privilege, they have also demanded that the blind and the disabled passengers be exempted from the fare hike. The corporators surrendered their passes to the BEST GM at the end of a BMC general body meeting recently, in which the proposals for fare hikes received the final stamp of approval. Currently, the blind and the disabled passengers pay Re 1 for every ride they take. This fare has been hiked to Rs 2. OP Gupta, BEST GM, gave assurance that he would reconsider hike of fares for disabled commuters. "We will present a revised proposal before the BEST committee soon," he added.