To tackle illegal constructions, MBMC seeks state govt’s help
Stung by the inefficiency of ward officials, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) in an effort to prevent illegal constructions wants government-deputed officers to do the job.
MBMC Commissioner Naresh Gite has sought six officers from the state government to be inducted into the civic cadre on deputation to serve as ward officials in their capacity as Assistant Municipal Commissioners for the next two years.
The move is being viewed as an attempt to streamline the administration and keep a check on the monopoly of certain officials, who have been working in the same department for years.
“Yes, we have sent a proposal in this context to the state government. Such deputations will prove helpful to the civic administration,” confirmed Dr Gite.
It should be noted that tackling illegal constructions is the responsibility of ward officers. However, some of them have earned notoriety for being hand-in-glove with encroachers and their middlemen, in some cases their own contractors carry out unauthorised constructions.
Ironically, a couple ward officers were caught by the ACB in the past on bribery charges for shielding illegal constructions. But were eventually reinstated in the same post. Interestingly, two female officers attached to the state government who were inducted into the MBMC on deputation to take over as ward officers two years back were never assigned the designated job and continued to hold on other lucrative departments in the civic body.