Nirupam seeks civic chief's resignation over potholes issue

Congress city unit president Sanjay Nirupam today demanded dissolution of MCGM and resignation of its chief Ajoy Mehta for "failing" Mumbaikars on the potholes issue by "missing" the deadline to ensure smooth roads here.
"Despite the assurance that all potholes would be repaired, nothing has changed on ground as the civic body has failed Mumbaikars.
"Even though the deadline ended today, there are 4,000 potholes. There doesn't seem to be any work going on to repair them, which is an insult to Mumbaikars," he said.
Birupam demanded that Mehta step down immediately and that the civic body be dissolved.
The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is controlled by the saffron combine of Shiv Sena and BJP, who are looking for a comeback though their alliance is not finalised yet for the civic elections due early next year.

Rebuking the Maharashtra government over collection of

dues such as tax etc. In invalid currencies from the people, Nirupam demanded a "break-up" of the loss caused in stamp duty and octroi collection after the demonetisation.
The state government had allowed the people to pay water tax, electricity bills, municipality taxes etc. In the scrapped notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, which has resulted in a substantial rise in its coffers.
The Congress leader said, "We require 2,300 crore pieces of currency notes and at present, our capacity is to produce only 300 crore pieces a month, (which means) this crisis will continue for seven months."

He alleged that the invalid tenders were being "illegally converted" into dollars at the rate of Rs 117 per dollar.
"Gold prices have gone up and in places like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, bribes are being sought and paid in the new Rs 2,000 currency notes. All the cash is not black money and all the black money is not cash," he said, adding that the brunt of Modi's demonetisation move was being borne by the middle-income and low-income groups.
"The patience of the people is running out," he said.
Nirupam sought Modi's clarification on how he ran his "high-voltage" campaign for the 2014 general election as the BJP's prime ministerial nominee.

"How were the expenses met...Was it all white money?," he asked.