Pune Municipal Corporation An August Body

Pune Municipal Corporation : An August Body

By Camil Parkhe

Not many Puneites would know that Mahatma Jyotiba Phule – after whom the vegetable market in the city is named – was in the forefront opposing the construction of this market.

As a member of the Pune Municipal Council during the later stages of his life, Phule, known for his concern for the downtrodden, had opposed the proposal for the central market demanding that the same money be instead used for providing education to the children who could not afford it.

Mahatma Phule is not the only person of national stature who was associated with the more 125-year-old Pune Municipal Council. Notwistanding the recent trend of group wars in the corporation, a glance at the list of mayors, deputy mayors and other representatives of the civic body makes the civic body and Puneites proud.

Lokmanya Tilak, who dominated the freedom struggle movement in the country for over three and half decades, also was a member of the Pune Municipal Council for a brief period.

The other tall personalities who moved from the council to contribute to the state and national level include the political guru of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the Servants of India Society, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, world renowned engineer, Sir M. Vishweswaraya; the stalwart of the non-Brahmin movement of the state Keshvrao Jedhe; Acharya P. K. Atre; Marati novelist Hari Narayan Apte, veteran playwright Krishnaji Prabhakar Khadilkar and editor of prominent Marathi daily, Kal, Shivram Mahadeo Paranjape. The Shivram Mahadeo Paranjape. The list goes on.

Sardar Dorabjee Pudumjee was the first president elected by the nominated members while the honour of being elected to the mayor’s post by the elected members went to Sahityasamrat Narsinha Chintaman Kelkar in 1918. Earlier, from 1858 to 1885, the district collector was the ex-office chief of the council.

Although Pune is one of the most prominent civic bodies in the state, it was formed very late as compared to other municipal councils in the state. The first municipal council in Maharashtra was established at Sangola in Solapur district, followed by Ahmednagar, Pandharpur, Solapur and Kalyan.

The delay in the formation of the Pune Municipal Council an interesting background. The proposal of the council was opposed by the citizens on the ground that the new body would impose house tax! Consequently the district collector had to convene a special meeting of the citizens to convince them of the advantages of having a civic body.

The talks were successful and thus the Pune Municipal Council came into being on May 20, 1857.

The contribution of the great national heroes during their stints as councilors also throws light on their personalities.

Mahatma Phule was the lone member to oppose the resolution to spend Rs. 1,000 during the visit of the Viceroy to Pune. Phule, who is now recognized for his pioneer work in the field of education for women and untouchables, had suggested that this money be spent on educating the underprivileged children.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who was the council president from 1902 to 1906 for the first time in the history of the body recognised the right of the citizens to witness the proceedings of the meetings of the civic body and laid the precedence of providing the citizens minutes of these meetings.

Women were allowed to vote during 1882 to 1924 but their right to contest the civic elections was recognized only in 1924. Nevertheless, there was not a single women representative in the council until 1938.

Women’s right to vote by proxy was withdraw in 1915, following a hat debate on the misuse of the provision. The council records reveal hot exchanges among the members over the proposal to withdraw the special privilege of women. A member had opposed the move to withdraw women’s right to vote by proxy, on the ground that it would not be wise to withdraw the right when the trend everywhere was to give equal rights to women. To this, Hari Narayan Apte had relied that none was opposed to giving equal rights to women. “But why should women seek special privileges?” he questioned.

Despite being the most popular leader of the masses, Tilak was never elected the president of the Indian National Congress. He met the same fate in Pune Municipal Council too. He was a council member from March 1895 to October 1897. He managed to win the election to the managing committee with a thin margin but was defeated the following year. However, he was elected to the public works committee of the civic body.

It is also interesting to note that Tilak, who rightly won the title of Telya-tambolyache pudhari (leader of the backward classes) had contested the election to the council from the elite constituency.

The problem of excess administrative expenditure was felt in the municipal council during the previous century, too. Lokmanya Tilak was one of the members of the committee to discuss the issue. Unfortunately, the report of this is not available in the records of the civic body.

Tilak resigned from his membership in 1897 when he was arrested for his suspected involvement in the murder of General Rand by the Chaphekar Brothers in Pune.

Lokmanya Tilak was the first national leader to be honoured by the Pune Municipal Council. Earlier, this honour was restricted to the British officials alone. Tilak was presented a scroll of honour by the council just eight months prior to his death when he arrived in Pune from London in December 1919.

Thereafter, the PMC kept up the tradition of honouring the national leaders despite the disapproval of the British Government. These leaders include Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose and Swantratyaveer Savakar.

Tilak’s association with the PMC did not end even after his death. When the council decided to spend Rs. 15,000 to erect a statue of the great nationalist, The British Government termed the expenditure as ‘illegal’ and the matter went to court.

In the meantime the Kesari, Maratha, Sanstha offered to bear the cost, pending the court verdict and the statue was unveiled by Motilal Nehru in July 1924, four years after the PMC passed its resolution !! Ultimately, the court decided the issue in favour of the council.

Sir M. Vishweshwaraya, whose birth anniversary is celebrated all over the country as ‘Engineer’s Day’, played a major role in city’s development as a nominated member of the Pune Municipal Council from 1902 to 1905. He prepared the drainage and water supply scheme for the council and was also instrumental in increasing the storing capacity of the Khadakwasla dam.

Among other stalwarts associated with the PMC included the senior Congress leader N. V. Gadgil who was elected to the council in 1929 and was deputy-president from January to September 1931.

The former deputy chairman of planning commission and noted environmentalist, Mr. Mohan Dharia, made his debut in politics through the Pune Municipal Corporation. Elected as corporator in 1956, he was the chairman of the transport committee in 1957 – 58.

(Source : PMC Centenary Volume by M. P. Mangudkar)