Now, 50% parking deals for women………..Sharad Vyas
MUMBAI: In New Delhi, a historic proposal to give women 33% reservation is making news. Closer home, the BMCin a landmark decision on Thursdaykept aside 50% contracts of public pay-and-parking lots for local women’s self-help groups.
The decision was taken by the group leaders, a committee comprising political heads in the BMC. Besides the proposed reservation for women, it was also decided that another 25% of the contracts will be reserved for unemployed youth who have been domiciled in the state for at least the past 15 years. This means both categories will be given preference by contractors to work at the over 113 pay-and-parking lots that are being leased out by the BMC to private parties for maintenance.
Calling it a historic decision, Mumbai’s first citizen Shraddha Jadhav said, “As part of the state’s policy, the women are anyway entitled to 30% reservation in civic contracts. But it makes sense to set aside extra jobs for them.”
The clamour for 50% reservation has been growing ever since the civic body invited fresh tenders at revised rates for 80-odd parks in October last year. Earlier, the proposal for a steep hike in parking charges was cleared by the civic improvements committee. BJP corporator from Mulund Manoj Kotak, who had raised a point of order on the issue in the October meet, has claimed that the idea was to offer jobs to sthanik (local) youth, who know the area better than anyone else.
The amendment for 50% reservation for women groups was later added to the 25% reservation for unemployed youth.