(Top) Afzal Imam and Vinay Kumar Pappu

Patna, Nov. 21: The development projects of the civic body rarely take off but the bickering among its elected representatives or executives hardly stops. Deputy mayor of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) Vinay Kumar Pappu became the latest star of mudslinging, blaming the mayor for non-implementation of projects.

Pappu told The Telegraph: “I refused to attend the empowered standing committee meeting conducted three days back because there was no agenda related to any of the development projects. There is no point in attending such meetings. I saved the corporation’s money on chai-nasta (snacks) by skipping the meeting as the outcome of such meetings has been zero over the years.”

He said the mayor, along with the senior executive officials in the civic body, is equally responsible for the mess. “I believe things would not have been this bad had the mayor tried harder. I understand his limitations but I think he should have performed better than what he has done,” Pappu said.

“It has been close to two years since it was decided that Rs 15 lakh would be spent on development projects in each of the 72 wards of the corporation. Till date, the money has not reached all the wards and the funds are being spent on giving salaries to the corporation employees. Thirty per cent of the total amount was allotted to many wards. But the contractors did not come forward to take up jobs as they feared non-payment owing to funds crunch,” Pappu said.

He said the civic body did not even bother to put up lights in wards and major stretches of the city this year before Diwali and Chhath unlike previous years.

Imam defended himself saying he was doing his best to expedite the projects.

“The new commissioner joined recently. I am doing my best to get civic works expedited. I know precious time has been lost already, but our intention is to benefit citizens at any cost,” he said.

It is not the first time that the civic body has seen a confrontation like this. Earlier, when Divesh Sehara was the PMC commissioner, majority of the councillors had united against and charged him with highhandedness, arbitrary attitude and sitting over pending civic projects.

After passing a resolution in the corporation board to remove the commissioner, the elected representatives were on the warpath demanding Sehara’s instant removal from the post. The state government ignored the resolution because such proposals cannot be entertained until the commissioner completes a year in office.

The bickering within has virtually stalled all the development projects of the civic body. Several city streets plunge into darkness after the dusk dawns. Carting of garbage has become irregular after A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited suspended its service.