Pimpri: The recent government diktat asking ministers and office-bearers to refrain from foreign tours seems to be falling on deaf ears, since, if sources are to be believed, eight women corporators from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are currently on a tour to Singapore. Furthermore, this development comes shortly after PCMC Commissioner Shravan Hardikar received official sanction for his tour to Spain.
The eight corporators, who belong to BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena, are allegedly sponsored by a contractor. According to sources, this is not an official study tour but purely a junket. According to them, four BJP corporators, Sunita Tapkir, Yogita Nagargoje, Sonali Gavhane and Chanda Lokhande, who are part of PCMC's Women and Child Development Committee, are on the trip, besides NCP's Vaishali Ghodekar, Nikita Kadam, Sulakshana Dhar and Shiv Sena's Rekha Darshale.
When asked about the issue, Leader of House Eknath Pawar said, "If it is a official tour, we would have informed the media. If not, it is a private tour. We can't comment without having any concrete information on whether it is a junket by a contractor. They may have gone on their own."
