MUMBAI, January 15: Chaos prevailed in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation general body meeting for over three hours today when agitated Congress members repeatedly challenged mayor Vishakha Raut's decision to invite municipal commissioner Girish Gokhale to clarify the state government's role in repealing the Rent Control Act.They also snatched the papers from the hands of Gokhale as soon as he began his speech.
Trouble began when the leader of the house, Nandu Satam requested the mayor to invite commissioner Girish Gokhale for a clarification before initiating any discussion on a statement made by leader of opposition Kisan Jadhav on the issue.
Jadhav said the government was trying to push in the new law to be enacted after expiry of the Mumbai Rent Control Act on March 31, 1998. ``In what would be sheer injustice to tenants of thousands of buildings in Mumbai, the new law is likely to shoot up rents by about 16 per cent,'' he said.
``The state government's intention to appease builders can be
gauged from a proposed five-fold increase in the floor space index (FSI) limits, from the existing 1.33 to 7,'' he added.
As soon as the statement was made, Mayor Vishakha Raut, upon a request from Satam invited the commissioner to clarify the administration's stand before initiating any discussion. This decision was vehemently opposed by the opposition, including former mayors, senior Congress corporators R R Singh and R T Kadam, and Samajwadi Party corporator Ramesh Joshi.
``The statement made by leader of the opposition is mainly political, and inviting the commissioner to make a statement before any debate on the issue would set an unhealthy precedent,'' they maintained.
Their requests were turned down by Raut, who asked the Gokhale to begin his statement. Just as Gokhale began reading, Opposition members, gheraoed him. Congress corporator B K Tiwari snatched the papers from Gokhale's hands, as others shouted anti-Sena-BJP slogans and displayed banners carrying messages like Bhadekaruna Saja Malak
Mari Maza, Yuticha Jhatka Garibana Phatka.
They were pacified only after the mayor agreed to initiate the discussion before Gokhale made his statement. The three-hour discussion saw both opposition and ruling benches trade charges and accuse each other of neglecting tenants' needs.
Finally, Gokhale said that following a Supreme Court order in the matter, the government had already initiated steps to enact a model Rent Control Act, which is expected to be placed for approval before the Legislative Assembly in the March 1998 session.
The new law proposes to remove all anomalies in the old Act and will levy a standard rent throughout the state, he said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
