Corporators from the richest and most-developed municipal corporation in the country — BMC — want to tour different cities across India to study development work. For this, they have zeroed in on tourist spots in the country. The expense for each tour is likely to run into lakhs of rupees; if approved, the cost will be borne by the BMC.
Taking a cue from the civic improvement committee’s Gujarat tour, members from other BMC committees are also planning to visit several places. For this, they have put forward a proposal in the civic group leaders’ meeting.
In the proposal, they have suggested visits to Bengaluru, Ooty, Mysore and Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu to “study the development work” there.
Improvement committee members from the Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS are currently touring Gujarat. While their tour is yet to end, the civic works committees from the city and suburbs have already expressed their desire to visit Bengaluru, Mysore and Ooty. In addition to this, the civic markets and garden committee members have proposed to visit Pudukkottai to examine the plantation of various trees there.
Tamil Selvan, chairman of civic works committee (city) said, “We will study things like cleanliness, infrastructure, roads, water disposal, gardens and slum adoption schemes in Bengaluru, Mysore and Ooty. The tour is expected to cost `5 lakh overall.”
“We have sent our proposal to the mayor and municipal commissioner seeking their permission. Only after their approval, will the tour take place,” said Ramesh Korgaonkar, chairman of civic works committee (suburbs).
However, according to civic sources, corporators want to utilise the money allotted for their study tours before the financial year ends this month. “Hence, tours are being organised hurriedly,” a civic official said.