A dispute over the proposed rent for two Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) shops turned noisy during a general body meeting after Mayor Adv. Harshali Chaudhary stopped Maharashtra Navnirman Sena corporator Prahlad Mhatre from opening his intervention with lines from an abhang.
Mhatre, a corporator from Dombivli and a student of saint literature, has regularly used abhangs while raising civic, development and municipal revenue issues in the corporation’s general body meetings, according to Loksatta. He had been following the practice for about eight months while presenting subjects before the house.
The latest dispute arose while the proposal to lease two municipal shops at Sahajanand Chowk in Kalyan West was being discussed. Mhatre began reciting an abhang linked to the subject, following which Mayor Chaudhary asked him to proceed directly with the matter and not sing the abhang. The mayor also rang the warning bell in the house, according to the report.
Mhatre then sought permission to recite only a few lines before starting the discussion. The objection led to an uproar in the meeting. Loksatta reported that corporators from the MNS are aligned with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena in the civic house. The report also noted that former Shinde Shiv Sena corporator Vaman Mhatre had earlier begun interventions with abhangs and couplets.
The municipal property proposal concerns two built-up spaces measuring 7.52 square metres and 8.82 square metres at Sahajanand Chowk. The shops were proposed to be leased to Shahbaz Salim Sheikh for 10 years under provisions of the municipal law. The proposal had also come before the general body during the previous week’s adjourned meeting.
The central disagreement was over whether the proposed rent reflected the commercial value of the two properties. The proposal cited a valuation of ₹10.39 lakh for the municipal property and an annual rent of ₹59,056. Mhatre argued that the rent was too low given the location of the shops and said the civic body should lease them at a higher rate to increase municipal revenue.
The discussion places the spotlight on how civic bodies price and lease commercial properties under their control. The shops are municipal assets, and the rent approved for them determines the recurring income available to the corporation. In the meeting, Mhatre focused on the gap between the cited valuation, the location of the properties and the proposed annual rent.
The report did not specify whether the general body approved, rejected or deferred the leasing proposal after the uproar. It also did not provide details of the valuation method, the basis for fixing the annual rent or whether a competitive bidding process had been conducted. The issue remains tied to the corporation’s further consideration of the proposal.
