Nagpur: Strong Opposition protests stalled the plan to increase Nagpur’s administrative zones from 10 to 12. After the issue triggered a political storm at the General Body meeting, Mayor Neeta Thakre withdrew the directive to prepare and forward a proposal to the state govt.The controversy began when BJP corporator Sudhir Raut questioned whether the existing 10-zone structure was adequate for a city whose population and geographical spread had expanded substantially. He pointed out that the zones were created in 2002 and argued that smaller administrative jurisdictions could improve civic governance, speed up grievance redressal and ensure closer monitoring of development works.The proposal, however, met immediate resistance over NMC’s manpower shortage. Leader of Opposition Sanjay Mahakalkar questioned the timing of the move, entered the well of the House and demanded that the proposal be kept on hold until the civic body addressed its staff shortage.Other Congress corporators also alleged that the restructuring was politically motivated and intended to remove Opposition members heading existing zone committees. Shailesh Pande said NMC was struggling to adequately staff the existing 10 zones and questioned the rationale for adding two more.IUML corporator Aslam Khan highlighted the disparity between workload and staffing, pointing out that Ashi Nagar Zone, which covers four prabhags, has only one junior engineer.When Thakre initially indicated that the proposal would be approved and directed the administration to forward it to the state govt, Mahakalkar rushed to the well. A heated exchange followed between ruling and Opposition members, including Raut and Pande.NCP (Ajit Pawar) corporator Abha Pande backed the need to examine the proposal but questioned NMC’s ability to staff additional zones when several officers were already holding charge of three or four departments.The confrontation intensified with sloganeering. BJP members raised “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, while Opposition corporators responded with “Jai Samvidhan”. Opposition members also brought a copy of the Constitution into the House.Amid the uproar, Thakre adjourned the House for 10 minutes. When the meeting resumed, she clarified that no decision had been taken to increase the number of zones. She directed the administration to examine the issue and place a detailed proposal before the House for discussion.
