02 December,2009 09:06 AM IST | | Vivek Sabnis
Mohan Singh Rajpal becomes first Sikh to be mayor of Pune
It was a historic day for the Pune Municipal Corporation, as NCP's Mohan Singh Rajpal became the first Sikh to be elected as mayor of the city. Rajpal defeated Deepak Gavade by 44 votes
Soon after his victory, Rajpal seemed keen on solving traffic problems and ensuring proper garbage disposal and security for senior citizens. He also contacted the traffic expert and former State DGP Dr P S Pasricha about the same.
Speaking to MiD DAY, he said, "I am grateful to NCP president Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar for giving him the opportunity to become the first citizen of Pune." Rajpal is in active politics for the last 35 years. "I wanted to become the mayor of Pune some day. Bhagwan ke ghar der hai andher nahin hai. Finally, my dream has turned into reality at the age of 60," he said.
While a visibly delighted Jasbir Kaur, Rajpal's wife, said, "I have made gajar ka halwa for my husband!"
Whereas Rajpal's son Jagjit Singh and brother Rajendra Singh said, "After 35 years of tireless work, he has finally got what he deserves."
When contacted, even Pasricha expressed his happiness over Rajpal's appointment. "I would love to work for Punekars to resolve the traffic issue. Ajit Pawar has also asked me to look into the issue in the recent past," he said. According to Pasricha, Pune is growing rapidly and there is a need to develop proper traffic control model to tackle the problems more systematically. "There is also a need to have proper co-ordination between PMC and Pune police," he said.
Advocate Prasanna Jagtap of Congress was elected as the deputy mayor of Pune.
