Announcing the party's decision on Saturday, Deputy leader Ravindra Pawar said that the formation of ward committees which would pave the way for decentralisation of power was part of the 74th amendment of the Constitution and was thus mandatory on the part of the BMC. The committees were to be formed last year but the decision has been put on hold several times for some or the other reason.

The committees, to be set up by the local corporators, will be vested with powers to sanction works worth nearly Rs 5 lakh annually. There would be 16 committees for the 23 wards with the smaller wards merged under common committees.

The group leadersin the BMC had approved a proposal to form the committees in August 1997. They were to be set up in April, 1998 after the Mayor-in-Council ratified the proposal. But due to lack of space in the ward offices, the process was delayed. Then the issue of cost of setting up of offices, appointment of secretaries and staff estimated to be Rs 5 lakh for each committee led to further delay. In spite of Mayor Nandu Satam's assurance to the contrary, the issue lay in cold storage through the 1998.

With the scrapping of the MiC, the opposition now has another opportunity to push for the committees. Samajwadi Party corporator Ramesh Joshi alleged that the committees were not formed fearing that it would give powers to the corporators while the MiC members wanted the powers concentrated in their hands. ``But now with the system gone, the administration should constitute the committees immediately,'' he demanded.