Many political party offices in Thane unauthorized

The District Collector S.S.Zende has asked the Thane Municipal Corporation to take immediate action against the unauthorized political party offices in the city.

ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES are expected to uphold the law. In a place like Thane, known for its hordes of illegal structures, it has come to light that most of the offices of political parties do not have the necessary permissions. Till November 2006, it was found that of the 115 offices of various political parties here, only 17 were authorized. The information was given in response to a query by Nitin Deshpande, President of Forum of Alert Citizen, Thane, under the Right to Information Act. In its reply, the Thane Municipal Corporation said only 17 had the required permission. In the wake of the ongoing by-election to the wake of the ongoing by-election to the Thane Lok Sabha constituency, the Thane district collector’s office has ordered a probe into the unauthorized party offices.The Collector issued the letter to the TMC asking it to look into the matter, after a letter by Deshpande in May. The latter had submitted a letter to the Collector along with the list of the unauthorized offices in nine wards of the TMC obtained under the RTI Act in November 2006.“This is a list of only nine words in Thane city. If there wards, can you imagine how many more unauthorized ones would there be in the rest of Thane parliamentary constituency? People’s representatives, who make the law, are supposed to be the protector of these laws. But if they do not follow the law, how can the voters confidently vote for them? There is not a single political them? There is not a single political party that has built all its offices in an authorized manner, “said Deshpande.“We have also asked the TMC to immediately remove the unauthorized election paraphernalia belonging to the political parties, and they are supposed to keep us updated on the matter by filing a daily report,” said S.S.Zende, District Collector.Prabhuraj Nimbargi, Municipal Secretary, told Lives that the TMC had initiated action from the time the code of conduct was implemented. “From April 24 to May 6, we have destroyed 924 banners, 435 posters, 869 flags, 320 cutouts, nine pandals, 397 advertisements and 9 writings on the wall. Thus, in the last 12 days, we have removed 2963 unauthorized election propaganda material put up by the candidates, “he informed. He, however, claimed that the issue of illegal party offices was not related to the election code of conduct. They will be dealt with like other unauthorized constructions in the city. “The candidate’s offices where place should be authorized and we are looking into it but other offices are not the current concern,” he remarked.Dshpande, though opposes this, saying, “The people from the same parties are competing for the by election, and as per the law, any people’s representative associated with any kind of unauthorized or illegal construction should be removed from his post. The Bombay High Court has time and again taken stringent action against this.The Corporation had to remove about 2000 unauthorized materials within a week indicating that this problem should be given due consideration by the corporation,” he remarked.