State aid for Solapur fringe areas

SOLAPUR, Oct 7: The State Government will give Rs 2.5 crore for development of areas included in the city limits last year. The decision ...

SOLAPUR, Oct 7: The State Government will give Rs 2.5 crore for development of areas included in the city limits last year. The decision has gladdened Solapur Municipal Corporation members. The SMC town planning office has been given a strict warning that the amount be used only for the new areas and that the funds must not be diverted for any other purpose.

The fax message came as a dream come true for the MLAs, MPs and corporators who were demanding that the State Government grant special aid for the areas comprising 11 gram panchayats for roads, electricity, drainage and drinking water. After the saffron government came into power, the city had not got a single paisa special grant.

All mayors in the past three years had urged the government to give the SMC a special aid of Rs 2.5 crore, but eithout success possibly because of the Congress being the ruling party at the SMC and the saffron alliance in the State. The issue had been politicised. When the Congress used to pressurise guardian minister Jagannath Patil, MLAs and corporators used to oppose the move. Patil had flayed the “royal expenses” of the SMC and said instead of demanding special aid, it should cut them down.

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Congress MP Sushilkumar Shinde, Sena MLA Uttam Prakash Khandave and BJP MLA Narsing Mengaji were involved in the issue. Shinde issued a press release holding the saffron alliance responsible for the sorry state of the areas. He lambasted Chief Minister Manohar Joshi who had assured funds during a meeting of MPs in Mumbai but had not kept the word.

Shinde had called upon the BJP-Sena MLAs and MPs to take the credit for work done after fighting with the State Government to obtain funds.

The guardian minister has been appointed chairman of the committee to keep vigil on the work and the expenditure. Other members include collector Apurva Chandra, SMC commissioner D.N. Mandalekar, MLAs and MPS.

Mayor Janardhan Karampuri said the work would start in November in every ward. Rs 1.75 crore will be spent on roads and Rs 75 lakh on electricity.

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He said the SMC has so far spent Rs. 2 crore in the area using money from the funds of MLAs and MPs. He has demanded Rs. 5 crore aid for city roads, which are in a very bad condition after a rare monsoon of excess rainfall.