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TC
Benjamin interacting with a Malegaon delegation.
(File Photo) |
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More Pains |
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 A Living Hell:
Established in 1863 Malegaon Municipal Council till a decade ago was regarded as one of the richest Council
in Maharashtra. It was so prosperous that when Nashik and Malegaon
both were Municipal Councils, it used to lend Nashik Municipal
Council the funds needed for the monthly payments....Read
Full
 Such things happen only in Malegaon-Denied
the
wages,
teachers
are forced to work in
powerloom factories during the night:
The life has become a hell for more than 1000 families here in
Malegaon as the local civic body is persistently failing in paying
its share...Read
Full
 SSA Funds in Malegaon
-
Whose purpose are they
actually
serving?:
Instead most of these funds are either lapsed and lay unused or if
at all they are used, due to improper planning and rampant
corruption, fail in bringing the desired results. This is what had
seemingly happened with the massive amount of the fund that came to Malegaon through Serva Siksha Abhiyan...Read
Full |
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Malegaon:
Perform or perish. It was the warning given to the new Ministers who
took the oath of office after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
formed the government in New Delhi a couple of weeks before. Alarmed
by the rising expectations, the Prime Minister even unveiled a
100-day roadmap for his ministerial colleagues and issued them with
a set of directives to work on during these hundred days. However,
for the political leadership and the administration in Malegaon,
there is no time constraint to complete a project. No matter if the
cost of a project becomes manifold and exceeds the amount sanctioned
for it in the budget. The local administration, hands in glove with
the corrupt politicians, would use the public money and the
government funds at its will. This becomes evident after a look at
the long list of incomplete projects in Malegaon crying for the
attention from the officials for many years.
“The local Congress MLA in the presence of the Corporation Mayor, who
incidentally was his own son, laid the foundation stone for the
auditorium on Independence Day in 2006 at a site in the heart of the
city that was earlier partly-built for the Bun’kar Baazar”,
says Mushk Kaamil of Citizens for Development and Peace (CDP), an NGO
trying to garner the support for the revival of Malegaon. “Almost three
years have passed since, yet the project that began with much fanfare
and publicity is still to see the light of the day”, he says.
“Likewise”, he says, “The civic body decided in the nineties to build
Allama Iqbal Bridge. At snail’s pace though the construction work that
began in October 2004 after much of hue and cry reached its completion
sometimes in 2007 only to be abruptly stopped by the concerned
department leaving the bridge incomplete to this date. Along with the
construction of the bridge, it had also been decided to widen the roads
adjoining the bridge. However nothing on ground is seen in this regard
as well. Today the incomplete bridge is being damaged and misused for
illegal activities by the miscreant and anti-social elements.”
Moreover the case with the Old Agra road has become a mystery for the
Malegaonians. This is the main road of the city that passes through the
town and joins it with the highway. However, according to the Citizens
for Development and Peace (CDP), the condition of this busiest road is
pathetic to say the least. “Due to the dismal condition of the road some
people have even died in accidents. Yet the Local Body has no plan for a
durable construction. The story for this road remains the same from past
many years, the construction work that starts from one end, never
reaches the other”, they say.
Chief Secretary in
action
Finding their repeated pleas to the Civic Body being thrown into the
dustbin, a delegation of Citizens for Development & Peace (CDP) on the
advice of the Planning Commission Member Dr. Syeda Hameed met TC
Benjamin, then Chief Secretary-Urban Development at his Mantralay office
in Mumbai on February 04, 2008 to apprise him of the grave situation in
Malegaon.
“Expressing concern over the worsening condition in the city, Benjamin
advised us to shortlist the issues that needed the most urgent attention
and promised to look into all the problems pertaining to the textile
city one by one in phases”, informs Kaamil.
To begin with Benjamin called the local administration and the Citizens
for Development & Peace (CDP) for a special meeting on March 04, 2008.
“The meeting in fact revived the hope for the Malegaonians as it took
few concrete decisions to set the ball rolling”, recalls Hameed Jamali
of CDP who was present in the meeting.
Furthermore the local administration promised in the meeting to complete
the construction work of the Old Agra road in one month’s time and also
to commence the construction work for the auditorium without any further
delay. “Benjamin had in fact advised them to blacklist the contractor
and give the contract to someone else if he doesn’t complete the work in
the stipulated time”, Jamali says.
Civic Body does it again
It had also been decided in the meeting that the local administration
after consulting with the Local MLA, Mayor and Citizens for Development
& Peace would submit a list of five schools and three prominent spots in
the city. Urban Development department would release the special grant
for constructing the wall-compound around these schools and public
toilets to be used on pay-and-use basis.
“To our surprise, the local administration without consulting us sent a
list of the schools that already had complete or partly built
wall-compounds and sought the funds from the State Government”, Jamali
informs. “Fearing that the funds would be misused again, we dispatched a
letter on March 17, 2008 along with the photographs of the schools in
question and requested the Chief Secretary not to issue the funds.”
Later the Citizens for Development and Peace (CDP) tried to settle the
matter with the local administration and convince them for proper
utilization of the funds but to no avail. Meanwhile TC Benjamin was
promoted and the erstwhile Municipal Commissioner after assuming the
office in Malegaon tried to control a bit but he himself gave a chance
to his detractors who left no time in seeking his transfer from the
city. The new Commissioner who recently joined the office is either out
of the city, on national and international tours, or engaged with the
coterie of his favorite politicians with corruption charges instead of
concentrating on the local issues.
Against this backdrop, it is free for all in Malegaon. Perform or Perish
may have been the directives given to the administration in New Delhi,
for the local administration in Malegaon, it is exactly the opposite.
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A Masjid,
A Mandir and Me: Malegaon, a town in India with more than 70%
Muslim population has always been considered as a communally sensitive
place....
The Power of Reading: 
'I see my role as offering the voices of the silenced majority of
Muslims in America and around the world',
Zafar Shaikh-
The
Men Inspired by Debacles:
Born
in UP, Educated in Arunachal, Cracked UPSC while doing Ph. D in
Delhi: 
Skilled
Hands converting couplets 
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