A day after the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) standing committee initiated a no-confidence motion against Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe, residents of Navi Mumbai have taken to social media with a #SaveTukaram campaign to show their support for with the NMMC chief.
Posts by residents included “i support #SaveTukaram campaign and appeal everyone for support because officers must be more powerful than corrupted politicians!” and “This is happening all over again, we witnessed this in my city Akola as well. Wolves gather to betray Lion, a rare breed these days, honest government officials with integrity, must be given greater freedom to act against the corruption”.
Residents claim the no-confidence motion move is a strategy to hide scams involving politicians.
Rajeev Mishra, an RTI activist from Navi Mumbai who has started a WhatsApp campaign supporting Mr. Munde, is planning to start a petition onchange.orgrequesting residents to vote. He said, “I will also be writing to the Chief Minister saying that not talking to the Mayor and not giving special treatment to corporators is not a reason for transfer. Legally, there is nothing wrong that Mr. Mundhe has done. There are no charges against him as far as his work is concerned. If he is shifted out, what will happen to the inquiries he had started? Everything will be stopped and corruption will be back to normal. Mr. Mundhe has suspended many officials, and inquiries against them are still going on.”
Khalid Munshi, a Nerul resident who is also active in the WhatsApp campaign, said, “The city needs non-corrupt officers like him [Mr. Mundhe] for common people like us. Corporators and politicians have been facing a tough time since Mr. Mundhe took over, which is why they don’t want him here. For the city and the common man, people like Mr. Mundhe are the need of the hour.”
The writer is a freelance journalist
