Nagpur: Noisy scenes were witnessed during the Nagpur Zilla Parishad (ZP) budget meeting on Friday. While the Congress-led ruling side passed the budget of Rs 42.35 crore with majority, the BJP-led Opposition staged a walkout accusing the ruling side of functioning in an ‘autocratic’ manner. The Opposition members tore the copies of the budget book before staging walkout, and later burned the copies of the budget outside.
The ruling side passed a resolution in favour of disqualification of two Opposition members namely Atish Umre, Leader of Opposition, and Subhash Gujarkar over the ruckus in the House. Whereas, the Opposition members said that they would demand dissolution of the current Congress-led elected body in ZP. The meeting also saw the ruling party members becoming aggressive in demanding regret from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for reaching at a sports meet late.
Rajkumar Kusumbe, Chairman of the Finance Committee, presented the ZP Cess Fund budget for the year 2024-25 in the special meeting held at Abasaheb Khedkar Sabhagruha in ZP here. Mukta Kokadde, President of ZP, chaired the meeting. Kunda Raut, Vice-President; Saumya Sharma, CEO of ZP; Pravin Jodh, Chairman of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Committee; Avantika Lekurwale, Chairperson of Woman and Child Welfare Committee; Milind Sutey, Chairman of Social Welfare Committee, shared the dais in the meeting.
Kusumbe stated that the revised budget for the outgoing financial year 2023- 24 was pegged at Rs 42,69,40,822, considering an increase on account of receipt of stamp duty reimbursement from the State Government. It was the last budget of the current elected body, as the ZP may go to polls early next year and the new body will present the budget for 2025-26.
Sanjay Zade, Shiv Sena member, alleged that the funds being spent on training under Women and Child Welfare Department did not prove to be productive. “It is sheer wastage of funds. It is aimed at providing work to contractors,” he alleged. Rashmi Barve, former ZP President, objected to his allegations. This led to a heated exchange of words in the House. Amid this, Atish Umre raised question over the presence of Sunil Kedar, former minister and senior Congress leader who has been convicted recently in Nagpur District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd scam case and subsequently disqualified as MLA, at the training programme organised by ZP Woman and Child Welfare Department.
Kunda Raut hit back saying, “BJP should take care of its own house. An externed leader has become minister in the BJP-led Government.” This resulted in uproar from the Opposition side. Soon, there ensued a heated exchange of words between Raut and the Opposition members namely Vyankat Karemore, Subhash Gujarkar, Sanjay Zade. Soon, the Opposition members hit the tables, damaged the microphones, and hurled the papers in the air.
Umre demanded discussion on the budget for the year 2024-25, but Kokadde announced that the budget was passed with majority. This irked the Opposition further, and Umre tore the copies of the budget. The Opposition then staged a walkout from the House. Outside, they burned the copies of the budget. Soon after the Opposition left the House, the ruling side passed a resolution for disqualification of Atish Umre and Subhash Gujarkar. It was decided to submit the resolution to the Divisional Commissioner for further action. Nana Kambhale, Congress rebel, objected to this and said that the members had expressed their ire.
