Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Bhopal Municipal Corporation Council will hold its meeting on July 24 at the ISBT Corporation office, where major proposals including the renaming of prominent city areas and civic development projects will be submitted.
A key proposal involves renaming the Old Ashoka Garden as 'Ram Bagh' and the crossing near Vivekanand Park as 'Vivekanand Chowk'. These proposals were given by Ward-69 councilor Suryakant Gupta. He is being backed by local residents who want a stronger cultural identity for these areas.
₹25 Crore Allocation for Immersion Ponds
The council will also discuss building six immersion ponds with a total budget of ₹25 crore. A pond at Barkatullah University will cost ₹4.45 crore and include features like a monitoring tower, retaining wall, boundary and electrification. Similar facilities are planned for Neelbad (₹ 6.01 crore), Sanjeev Nagar (₹ 4.77 crore), Malikheda (₹ 2.49 crore), and Prempura (₹ 7.34 crore).
Opposition to target meeting delays and Public toilets fee hike
The opposition led by leader of opposition Shabista Zaki, plans to raise issues such as road conditions, water supply, and delays in civic meetings. Congress Councilor Yogendra Singh Chauhan criticized the hike in public toilet charges from Rs 6 to Rs 10 as subsidized food continues at Rs 5 under the Deendayal Kitchen scheme. The Congress has been protesting this fee hike.
First council meeting in nearly four months
Notably, this is the first council meeting in nearly four months; the last one took place on April 3. As per norms, such meetings should be held every two months. However, under current government provisions, the Mayor-in-Council (MIC) has the authority to function without council meetings for up to a year. The Congress party had been persistently urging Divisional Commissioner to convene the meeting.
Civic issues ignored
BMC Chairman Kishan Suryavanshi recently wrote to Commissioner Harendra Narayan, urging that issues like waterlogging, pothole-ridden roads, drain maintenanceand sewage system problems be discussed in the meeting. However, the official agenda does not reflect these concerns.
Mayor’s take
Mayor Malti Rai told media persons that there was a longstanding demand from local residents to rename “Old Ashoka Garden” to “Ram Bagh.” She said that other public issues would also be discussed during the meeting.
