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Indian Express
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Vadodara mayor's office vandalised: AAP protests arrest of 24 party workers
A day after the Vadodara city police arrested 24 workers of the Aam Aadmi Party's Vadodara unit for vandalising Mayor Pinky Soni's office, the party leaders on Tuesday gathered at the Navapura police station on Tuesday to protest against the BJP-ruled Vadodara Municipal Corporation. The AAP workers, who on Monday barged inside Soni's office, splattered black ink on the Mayor's cabin door and broke her name plate by stomping on it, were arrested later in the evening. On Tuesday, AAP leader Manoj Sarothiya arrived in Vadodara and attacked the BJP-ruled VMC for 'failing to provide amenities' to citizens. Sorathiya said that instead of providing answers to the questions, the mayor has been 'enraged enough' to initiate police action against AAP workers for 'raising questions'. Sorathiya said, 'In the last 30 years of BJP's rule in the city, Vadodara has witnessed floods every year… The AAP workers spilled some black ink and broke a name plate, which enraged the Mayor so much that a police complaint was lodged… I want to tell the Mayor, every year, Vadodara residents lose crores of rupees during floods and also lose lives. Why was no FIR registered at that time?' Sorathiya added, 'The condition of the roads in Vadodara is terrible. The office bearers of Vadodara have indulged in blatant corruption and led the city to this point. In the recent months, a project of Rs 1200 crore was announced for the Vishwamitri project, out of which, Rs 50 crore has been paid by the VMC and a same amount by the Irrigation Department for the flood mitigation work… AAP leaders are not scared of (the BJP's) lathis or the jails… If they cannot answer people's questions, they should resign from the post.' The Navapura police station, which had arrested 24 AAP workers, including 18 women late on Monday night for rioting, vandalism and damaging government property. conducted a panchnama of the spot outside the Mayor's cabin. Police officers recorded statements of the civic body's security personnel during the panchnama. Police Inspector MS Ansari said, 'The 24 persons were arrested and granted bail at the police station as per the provision of law.' Meanwhile, the Vadodara unit of Congress on Tuesday, also held a 'pothole tour' of the Mayor's ward to 'showcase' the pits and potholes as well as the garbage heaps strewn on the roads. Vadodara City Congress President Rutvij Joshi said, 'The Vadodara city Congress has initiated a campaign 'Khadodara darshan', to showcase the apathy of the civic body and the condition of the roads and sanitation in the city during the monsoon'. 'We started with Ward 4, which is the Mayor's Ward… In several places, entire stretch of roads have been dug up by the civic body on the pretext of pre-monsoon work but they have not been filled up and levelled, making it dangerous as there have been multiple instances of people being injured. In one of the cases, an auto driver was killed due to a pothole in another part of the city,' Joshi added. Mayor Pinky Soni remained unavailable for her remarks over the issue.
Indian Express
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Gujarat Confidential: ‘Silence' sparks AAP fury
Vadodara Mayor Pinky Soni has been at the receiving end for her recent 'silence' over questions pertaining to the Vishwamitri River Project, a flood mitigation initiative, after a video of her unresponsive media interaction went viral last week. On Monday, Aam Aadmi Party's Vadodara unit vandalised the VMC building outside her cabin while she was away in Kerala launching the VMC's Green Bond book. The AAP unit blackened the door and name plate of the Mayor's cabin before ripping off the nameplate and throwing it away. Stating that the Mayor had 'failed in her duty to provide amenities' to the city, AAP leaders stomped on the nameplate. The AAP unit said that several parts of the city had been left with potholes on the roads as well as 'deliberately opened pits' along the road by the VMC during the monsoon, causing 'inconvenience and posing a threat' to the citizens. The unit also stated that several parts of the city were reeling under water crisis. Last week, a group of citizens also met Soni in her cabin and demanded her resignation in 'the interest of the city'. Soni had remained silent during the interaction.
Indian Express
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Vadodara civic body's General Board meeting adjourned over Pahalgam deaths; 66th ‘adjournment for mourning' in four years
The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC)'s General Board, which was meeting for the first time in the current financial year on Thursday, was adjourned within a few minutes in mourning for the victims of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack as well as the martyred soldiers and civilians in the Operation Sindoor besides the recent deaths of two political leaders. With this, the meeting became the 66th such General Board to be 'adjourned in mourning' since its formation in March 2021, following the local civic body polls. So far, the current board has seen 40% adjournments with leaders of Opposition stating that they were mere excuses by the ruling party to put off issues that could create an uproar against it. On Thursday, Mayor Pinky Soni said, 'The proceedings of the General Board…have been adjourned after observing two minutes of silence in mourning of the victims of April 22 terror attack at Pahalgam as well as the martyred soldiers and civilians during Operation Sindoor, which was in response to the Pahalgam attack. We also mourned the deaths of former Union Minister Girija Vyas and former Gujarat Health minister Hema Acharya. This is as per the practice of VMC. The next General Board will be held on May 19.' Records of the VMC, accessed by The Indian Express, show that since the formation of the current BJP-led board in March 2021, following the civic body polls in February that year, a total of 183 General Board meetings — including the one on Thursday — had been convened. Of these, 66 were adjourned (see box) for mourning the deaths of public figures or tragedies such as the Morbi bridge collapse in 2022, Harni Boat tragedy in Vadodara in January 2024, and Rajkot TRP game zone fire in May 2024. Among the personalities whose deaths resulted in adjournment were Vadodara-based former India cricket coach Anshuman Gaekwad, actor Manoj Kumar, singers Lata Mangeshkar, Purushottam Upadhyay and Anoop Jalota, and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. An official of the VMC tells The Indian Express, 'We generally pay tribute to departed former Prime Ministers, former Chief Ministers, former Union and state cabinet Ministers, local elected representatives and other personalities who have been conferred with national awards such as Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna. Apart from this any major tragedy, anywhere in the country, that results in loss of life and casualty is also taken into consideration.' The official further said, 'There is no written rule but it has been a practice since the inception of the VMC… The practices also differ from one corporation to another. It could also depend on the leaders of the board, who may decide to pay a silent homage and continue with the proceedings. But it has not happened in a long time.' As per the rules of Proceedings of the Corporation, under the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act (GPMC), 1964, it is mandatory for 'at least one ordinary' General Board meeting to be convened each month, 'which shall be held not later than the twentieth day of the month'. At VMC, generally the General Board meetings that see actual discussions spill over to the following month. The official says, 'The meeting of May 15 was originally meant for the month of April as the meeting held the previous month as per the GPMC provisions was also adjourned for some reason (Deesa tragedy and the death of actor Manoj Kumar)… So, the next General Board meeting on May 19 will see one session from 5pm to 6pm, which will be the meeting for the month of April to discuss pending works and then, 6pm onwards, (it will be held) for the month of May as per the rules, before the 20th of the month.' As per the GPMC, the mayor can adjourn the meetings 'with the consent of majority of councillors present… to a later hour on the same day or to any other day… but no business shall be transacted (except exceptions provided) and no proposition shall be discussed at any adjourned meeting other than the business or proposition remaining undisposed of the meeting from which the adjournment took place'. Notably, each corporator of the VMC receives an honorarium of Rs 500 per meeting for up to five meetings — including General Board, Standing Committee or other Committee meetings — held during the month. 'Whether the meeting goes on or is adjourned, the corporators get paid Rs 500 per meeting. The limit is Rs 2,500 per corporator per month. So, those who are members of other committees can receive the honorarium for up to five meetings per month. In several months, up to three General Board meetings are called due to adjournments… For instance, the General Board meeting on May 19 will be counted as two separate meetings — one for April and one for the month of May, with regard to the honorarium,' the official said. Even as VMC maintains that adjourning the General Boards to condole deaths of public figures is an 'unchangeable practice', several leaders have urged the civic body to break the tradition and conduct public work after paying homage to the departed persons. In August 2024, in a letter to the Vadodara mayor, BJP corporators Ashish Joshi (before he was suspended from the party earlier this month), Parul Patel, Punam Shah and Snehal Patel had said that the VMC 'must not adjourn' its General Board meeting 'to mourn' their deaths whenever the day arises. The letter came days after VMC had ignored the request of late Congress leader and former deputy mayor Chirag Zaveri's wife to not adjourn the General Board meeting but rather continue with public work as a 'homage' to the departed leader, who passed away in July 2024. The BJP corporators wrote, 'It has been a practice of VMC to pay homage to victims of tragedies and departed elected representatives by adjourning the proceedings of the General Board. Since April 1, 2024, 50 per cent of the General Board meetings have been adjourned in mourning and so, there is a feeling that this practice needs to change.' In April, Mayor Soni orally announced during the General Board meeting that the practice of conducting two meetings per month was to be 'ceased' in line with the convention followed in other Municipal Corporations in the state of holding only one meeting per month. An official said that in Ahmedabad and Surat, the Municipal Corporations rarely adjourn an entire day's work in 'mourning' as it has been a practice to hold only one General Board meeting per month. The Congress leaders, who have also sat on dharnas on the floor of the General Board protesting adjournments on at least three occasions in the last one-and-a-half years feel that the meetings could be adjourned for some time but work should be conducted for most part of the day. The Leader of Opposition in VMC, Chandrakant Shrivastav, says, 'Initially, we used to have four meetings a month to discuss issues. Now the BJP has decided and passed down instructions to their elected leaders to have only one meeting… So accordingly, the Mayor has made the announcement to that effect. People of Vadodara have given the BJP a mandate but they do not want to give people's representatives a chance to raise issues. It is our job to draw their attention to the shortcomings of the system but they do not want to hear or allow us to be heard…' Congress leader Ami Ravat feels that adjournments in mourning are an 'excuse' to put off issues that could create an uproar against the ruling party. Ravat says, 'Some times, the meetings are adjourned and put off for over a month because they want to delay (discussions on) burning issues and are looking for reasons to prevent the Opposition from asking questions, under the excuse of paying homage. There are so many public figures, we can pay homage (to them) and continue our work… We have had a practice where the General Board is held on two days for discussion and passing resolutions, which is good… Even if there is an adjournment, the meetings should be held in the same month on the next working day, and not weeks later when people have no memory of the issue.' Despite repeated attempts, Mayor Soni did not revert to calls and text messages seeking comments on the issue.
