Stung by the sustained attack from corporators, both professional and personal, Municipal Commissioner T S Chandrashekhar had sought a transfer from Chief Minister Manohar Joshi last week. In a telephonic conversation with Joshi on Thursday, the disillusioned civic chief said he was disgusted with the corporators' attempt to scuttle Phase-II of the Rs 115-crore Integrated Road Development Project (IRDP). The corporators are demanding that the money be diverted to the rehabilitation of people who were evacuated from dangerous buildings following the Sairaj building crash.

The project, which envisages widening of 34 major roads spanning 55 km, is at the top of the commissioner's agenda and has been stalled by the civic Standing Committee. Turning down the request for the transfer, Joshi instead assured him ofhis support even though he appeared to do a volte-face today. At a press conference in Mumbai, Joshi expressed strong displeasure at Chandrashekhar's utterances against corporators. Referring to a list of 40 allegedly corrupt corporators the civic chief recently sent to the state government urging action against the elected representatives, Joshi said: ``He should not have rushed to the media. Instead, he should have briefed me on the controversy.''

Chandrashekhar, however, told Express Newsline: ``I shall continue as commissioner provided I am allowed to implement Phase-II of the IRDP unencumbered. It is not that I want to give up.''

Corporators cutting across party lines have erected a wall of opposition ever since Chandrashekhar dispatched the list of 40 elected representatives to the state government alleging corruption against them following the Sairaj building collapse in Thane last month. Apart from stalling the proposal to kick off Phase-II of the IRDP, they have also mounted a personal attackagainst the commissioner.

Phase-II, which was meant to commence after Diwali, has still not taken off. Phase-I, which began on January 1998, was completed in 10 months and saw the widening of 55 km of medium and minor roads.

The Standing Committee, which was supposed to discuss tenders for Phase-II at its November 30 meeting, instead witnessed only acrimonious debates with corporators (mainly from the Sena and Congress) demanding that the commissioner reveal the names of the `corrupt' among their ranks. Besides, Mayor Premsingh Rajput (Sena) also demanded that the occupants of the 300 buildings at Wagle Estate, which the civic chief proposes to demolish, be provided alternative accommodation first.

The tenders for Phase-II of the IRDP will come up for consideration before the Standing Committee on December 3.