Kolhapur: The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) is going invite more non-government organisations (NGOs) to develop traffic islands and raise funds through corporate social responsibility (CSR).The decision has been taken after Congress corporators slammed the civic administration's proposal to give authority to Kolhapur Street Beautification Project (KSBP), a city-based NGO, to enter into an agreement with private companies for developing 22 traffic islands across the city."As per the suggestions from the corporators we have decided to appeal to the NGOs based in the city to apply for developing the traffic islands. We have been approached by various industrialists and other wealthy people and have requested us to allow them to develop the traffic islands. We have no such policy right now and the decision will be taken at the highest level," said a KMC official.The Congress corporators are going to oppose the proposal to hire KSBP for the work in the general body meeting. Sharangdhar Deshmukh, leader of Congress in KMC, said, "We are not against the KSBP and not against any initiative to develop the traffic islands. The KMC should be made party to each and every agreement the NGO enters into with private entity otherwise it will be hard to pin the responsibility on any one party if the project fails. We have requested the civic administration to freshly draft the proposal and invite more NGOs to join hands to develop the traffic islands and also the gardens."The Congress corporators also said that misuse of funds may take place if only one NGO is given the task. Responding to the claims, KSBP director Sujay Pitre said, "We have no issues if more NGOs are called. Four months ago we took the proposal to the KMC as many people are interested to give money for developing traffic islands. We have experience to develop some traffic islands with the help of CSR funds."

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