Upset with ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s lack of response to its letters, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to scrap the idea of conferring ‘Mumbai Ratna’ and ‘Mumbai Bhushan’ awards on him.
The Municipal Commissioner of the BMC and the mayor of Mumbai had written several letters to Mr. Tendulkar, requesting his time to felicitate him. In spite of several letter and reminders, the cricketer could not spare time for the corporation’s programme.
Municipal Commissioner Sitaram Kunte has turned down the proposal where the BMC was to confer awards called ‘Mumbai Bhushan’ and ‘Mumbai Ratna,’ stating that celebrities might not have time for the BMC. “Many years have passed since the BMC decided to publicly felicitate international cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. The Mayor and the Municipal Commissioner had sent him repeated reminders requesting him to give time for the felicitation. But because of his extremely busy schedule he hasn’t been able to give time to the BMC. So if we organise a felicitation programme, it is doubtful if celebrities will be present,” Mr. Kunte has said in his written reply.
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He added that conferring awards was not mandatory for the civic body. “The BMC is a local self-government body whose primary objective is to provide basic facilities to citizens. It is not mandatory for it to confer awards on citizens,” wrote Mr. Kunte.
While the BMC has scrapped its plan to confer Mumbai Bhushan and Mumbai Ratna awards, it has, in the past, felicitated singer Lata Mangeshkar, cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani, actor Ranjana Deshmukh and Machindra Kambli in the past. However, the felicitation did not consist of any award.