The Pune Municipal Corporation has witnessed a political dispute over a proposal to donate one year of councillors’ honoraria to the Chief Minister’s Drought-Affected Assistance Fund, with opposition parties objecting to the proposal being introduced without a meeting of all party group leaders.
Bharatiya Janata Party councillors Dheeraj Ghate and Yogesh Mulik proposed that all municipal councillors contribute their honoraria for drought-affected farmers. The BJP also announced that the annual honoraria of its 126 councillors would be donated to the assistance fund.
The proposal led to a heated exchange between the ruling BJP and opposition councillors during the Pune civic body’s general body meeting. Opposition members said they did not oppose assistance for drought-affected farmers, but argued that such a decision should have been discussed and adopted with cross-party consent.
Congress and Nationalist Congress Party councillors alleged that the BJP was politicising the issue by presenting the proposal without first consulting other parties. Congress councillor Arvind Shinde said the mayor should have convened a meeting of all group leaders before the proposal was introduced. He suggested that individual consent letters should be obtained from councillors and that each elected representative should contribute according to their financial capacity.
Leader of the Opposition Nilesh Nikam questioned the authority of the ruling party to take a decision on behalf of all councillors. He said each party could have its own position on assistance for drought-affected people, but alleged that the BJP had not even held preliminary discussions with other parties before bringing the proposal to the house.
Congress group leader Ramchandra, also known as Chandusheth Kadam, said the Congress stood with drought-affected farmers but accused the BJP of turning the issue into a political contest. He also said that an all-party meeting should have been called before asking every councillor to donate a year’s honorarium.
The Nationalist Congress Party said that all its councillors would donate one month’s honorarium. The report does not specify the monetary value of the proposed annual or monthly contributions.
A separate disagreement emerged over the honorarium and bonus issues. Congress councillor Sunil Shinde raised the issue of bonuses for municipal employees. BJP councillor Dheeraj Ghate opposed raising the matter while the drought crisis was being discussed, while Deputy Mayor Parshuram Wadekar accused Congress councillors of opposing the drought assistance fund. Wadekar described that position as condemnable.
The civic administration was also asked to consider a contribution of Rs 5 crore from the Pune Municipal Corporation for drought-affected farmers. The suggestion was made to Municipal Commissioner Navalkishor Ram, but the report does not state that the amount had been formally approved.
The dispute unfolded alongside concerns over Pune’s own water supply. Mayor Manjusha Nagpure directed the municipal commissioner to organise an all-party group leaders’ meeting on the 28th to discuss difficulties and possible measures related to providing an equal water supply to residents.
The proposed meeting is expected to examine water-supply-related issues before further decisions are taken. The developments place two connected questions before the civic body: how Pune should respond to drought-related distress outside the city, and how it should build political coordination around unequal or inadequate water supply within the city.
