The Pune Municipal Corporation’s general body has decided that corporators will contribute one month’s honorarium to the Chief Minister’s Drought Relief Fund after a proposal on support for drought-hit farmers led to a political dispute during Friday’s meeting.
Bharatiya Janata Party corporators Dhiraj Ghate and Yogesh Mulik had initially moved a proposal seeking the contribution of one year’s honorarium from all corporators. The proposal triggered objections from the Congress and both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party, which said they supported assistance for drought-affected farmers but opposed the manner in which the proposal was brought before the House.
The final decision was to limit the contribution to one month’s honorarium. The BJP also moved a separate proposal for its own corporators to contribute one year’s honorarium, and that proposal was unanimously approved, according to the report by Punekar News.
The disagreement centred on whether the issue had been discussed across party lines before being placed before the general body. Congress group leader Chandu Kadam said his party stood with drought-hit farmers but accused the BJP of attempting to gain political advantage from the issue. He said the mayor should have called a meeting of all party leaders before bringing the proposal to the House.
Nilesh Nikam, Leader of the Opposition from the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, also questioned the BJP’s authority to take a decision on behalf of corporators from other parties without prior consultation. He alleged that the ruling party had acted unilaterally and taken other corporators for granted.
The meeting also included a disagreement over the bonus payable to civic employees. Congress corporator Sunil Shinde raised the issue, but Ghate objected, saying it was inappropriate to discuss bonuses during a drought crisis. Deputy Mayor Parshuram Wadekar accused Congress corporators of opposing the drought relief fund, a charge that followed the wider dispute over the proposal’s procedure.
The decision places the PMC’s general body at the intersection of municipal representation and state-level relief mobilisation. Although the contribution will come from corporators’ honoraria, the meeting’s debate focused less on the mechanics of the donation and more on who had the authority to initiate and frame the proposal on behalf of the House.
Municipal Commissioner Naval Kishore Ram has separately suggested that the PMC contribute Rs 5 crore towards assistance for drought-hit farmers. The report does not specify whether the proposed civic contribution has been approved, how it would be funded, or when any assistance would reach affected farmers. The corporators’ one-month contribution remains the decision recorded at the general body meeting.
