Sufficiently humbled by the diktat from their respective parties, corporators stifled their onslaught against the commissioner and passed tenders relating to 26 of the 31 roads under the Rs 53.6-crore Phase-II of the all-important Integrated Road Development Project.

Diligently attending to the business at hand, the corporators discussed proposals which they had stalled at four consecutive stormy meetings. The result: Phase-II of the commissioner's pet project was flagged off, with tenders for works pertaining to 20 asphalt roads, one footpath, one retaining wall and four concrete roads being accepted. Of the 31 roads under Phase-II, works for just five asphalt roads were stalled as the tenders were not accepted.

At this juncture, Sena corporator Vilas Samant alleged that a relative of committeeChairperson Veena Bhatia (BJP) is a contractor involved in the works for one road, and the tender for this road should not be sanctioned.

Bhatia, upset at the allegation, jumped to her own defence stating: ``No, no... no relative of mine is involved.'' Later, during the discussion, she urged the other 15 members of the committee to take a decision on all 31 roads. She said the tenders had been delayed for too long and should either be recalled or a consensus be reached.

Referring to other developmental works, Shiv Sena corporator Rajan Vichare said that though tenders for the drainage system at Masunda lake had already been passed, at least five pumping stations are non-functional. The commissioner, however, replied, saying the VNC pumps installed 10 years ago were outdated but were replaced by submersive pumps on Thursday.

As for minor works, he said he had cleared 12,500 files over a year and a half. While a budgetary provision of Rs 28 crore had been sanctioned, only Rs 9 crore has been spent onabout 12 projects.

A hint of dissent tainted the discussion when Vichare alleged that Bhatia, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party in the corporation, had suggested that Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde should have been approached to seek the commissioner's removal. Bhatia, vehemently denied this, saying: ``I had only suggested a meeting with the deputy chief minister to solve the issue (rebellion against the commissioner).''

For the first time since the corporators rebelled against Chandrashekhar in mid-November, the list of 40 corrupt corporators dispatched to the chief minister by the commissioner did not figure in the discussion.

Before today's meeting commenced, an understanding was reached between the Shiv Sena and the municipal commissioner with lawyer Prabhakar Hegde mediating.