Putting two and two together, Satam simply blamed the civic administration for the staggering Rs 614-crore deficit - one of the main indices of the MiC's failure - and a former municipal commissioner for the financial quagmire in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Still, the the death ratte of the MiC rang clear through the din Satam raised at the civic headquarters today.

Addressing a press conference after the weekly MiC meeting, Satam held former municipal commissioner J D Jadhav partially responsible for the financial mess. Claiming the deficit had not risen during the MiC's tenure over the last year, Satam said: ``The agreement signed by the then commissioner and various unions in 1995 regarding a hike in salaries had placed aRs 207-crore burden on the corporation. Last year, when we took over, the deficit was already 360.4 crore. This, in effect, means that the deficit is only 37.89 crore.''

Then, the crash course in chartered accountancy zeroed in on the mayor's pet whipping-boy - the civic administration. He said even this amount could have been raised if officials had implemented the MiC's decisions such as charging hotels using open spaces around their establishments extra. ``The administration refused to implement our decision citing legal hassles, Satam thundered.

Finally, Municipal Commissioner Girish Gokhale decided to join issue. He said: ``The MiC has not applied its mind to balance the budget. They have suggested taxes which are unrealistic. Neither can they explan how they will earn revenue from the sources they have identified,'' he charged.

``Both the then Standing Committee in 1997 and the MiC in 1998 turned down our suggestion to increase general taxes, which is the only practical means to raise income. Thisalone would have raised Rs 280 crore,'' Gokhale remarked. ``I don't understand why the MiC is afraid of increasing taxes,'' he said.

Gokhale said when the budget was presented last year, he had suggested that the civic staff should not be paid ex-gratia for a year as the financial position of the corporation was not stable. Ultimately, the money has to be taken from citizens' pockets, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation of corporators met Chief Minister Narayan Rane on Wednesday and requested him not to scrap the MiC. The delegation included Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, BJP Mumbai district President Kirit Somaiya, Deputy Mayor Gopal Shetty, BJP leader in the BMC Arun Deo and MiC member Rajesh Sharma.

Pleading for an extension, they urged Rane to wait for at least a year before taking a final decision. However, they received no assurances.